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Do you plan to "protect" Hawaii during the American civil war? What about the PSA? The Pacific should be a Japanese lake after all 
Another happy subject welcomes Japanese troops into Shanghai.
I know that movie... Isn't it about a kid who lives in Hong Kong with his parents when Japan invades in 1941, and he goes on the run from the IJA?
Zzzzz...: Don't worry, there will be plenty of naval action in the next update.
son of liberty: The USCW has been a bit of a damp squib in this game. The original US government has managed to completely reunite the country under its rule. Hawaii is the one exception, and I may take it, but right now the many many German ports have top priority for my limited number of escorted transport fleets.
Sakura_F: The film is Empire of the Sun. He was living in Shanghai, quite similar OTL to the KR 'Legation Ports' but not as official, and the film charts his adventures in various Japanese prison camps. Unfortunately he is not all that happy under Japanese rule. IIRC it is based on a true story, albeit somewhat embellished. I really like the film and you should all watch it!
son of liberty: The USCW has been a bit of a damp squib in this game. The original US government has managed to completely reunite the country under its rule. Hawaii is the one exception, and I may take it, but right now the many many German ports have top priority for my limited number of escorted transport fleets.
Sakura_F: The film is Empire of the Sun. He was living in Shanghai, quite similar OTL to the KR 'Legation Ports' but not as official, and the film charts his adventures in various Japanese prison camps. Unfortunately he is not all that happy under Japanese rule. IIRC it is based on a true story, albeit somewhat embellished. I really like the film and you should all watch it!
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Nice AAR here. I hope the mighty IJN is able to hold its ground against the German fleet when the time comes to face them in battle.
Also, About Empire of the Sun: IIRC I heard that the actual person who the film is based upon made a cameo in that movie, I think it was at the costume party scene at the start of the film or something. Been a long time since I have seen it.
Also, About Empire of the Sun: IIRC I heard that the actual person who the film is based upon made a cameo in that movie, I think it was at the costume party scene at the start of the film or something. Been a long time since I have seen it.
It's a horrible film...and by horrible I mean depressing. The end just about rips your heart out, and then puts it back in. When I first saw it, I was depressed for a month. It's more powerful (if thats even possible) than Schindler's List, IMO.
Subscribified...and hopeful that I can convince my wife to let me buy Darkest Hour when I get the new computer setup...
Keep up the good work!
5. Japan confides that every man will do his duty
The war with the Allgemeine Ostasiatische Gesellschaft receives little attention in the history of the War of Unprovoked Sino-German Aggression. Pitted against the superior fighting élan of Japanese troops, what other outcome could there be for a nation of shopkeepers than total defeat? Being outnumbered two-to-one by better equipped divisions - and the fact that almost no one living there much liked the AOG anyway - might also have had something to do with it. Another reason the war receives little attention is that it was quickly overshadowed by dramatic events unfolding at sea at the same time. The object of contention this time was not a great chunk of continental empire, but the tiny island of Guam which had been brought under Japanese protection when the US federal government collapsed. Confident that the natives would welcome Japanese rule, no garrison had been dispatched, and alarmingly the Germans had managed to invade, placing them within striking distance of the home islands.
We stole it first!
Now that the Qing Imperial Army fought alongside the Japanese, troops could be spared for expanded naval operations. The Western deployment at Singapore was increased, and a reconnaissance-in-force launched against Ceylon and the German Indian Ocean islands using Japan's fast carrier strike force. Since the Germans seemed to have fled in the face of the glorious IJN, it would be left to Yamamoto to decide how far this offensive should be pushed. Smaller cruiser forces would convoy troops to rescue the rest of Indochina and Borneo from Germany. Meanwhile, the battleship Combined Fleet under Taniguchi would move into the Pacific and begin seizing as many German islands as possible, starting with those closest to Japan.
Who is Yamamoto II? That's what I want to know. Also note minor damage to the Combined Fleet from Soviet-Japanese War.
Arriving at the Mariana Islands in late February, the Combined Fleet surprised a substantial force of German battleships accompanied by a carrier. Clearly they had fled Singapore in the wrong direction, become lost, and landed on Guam thinking it was Malta. Realising their mistake, they must have then tried to move back West, stumbling into the Japanese navy. After a brief action, the Germans fled in disarray back behind the guns of the port at Guam, their fleet still mostly intact.
The German admiral may have a moustache, but Taniguchi has better positioning rolls.
SNLF began landings at Saipan, which had not been garrisoned, and moved on to Guam later in the week. After several weeks of bitter ground fighting and frequent naval skirmishes that caused damage on both sides, the Germans decided they had no choice but to attempt a break-out before Japanese field artillery could be brought in range of the port, as had happened to the Russians at Port Arthur. Parallels to the Russo-Japanese War were acutely felt by the Japanese as well. Then as now, Japan's continental empire depended upon keeping the sea-lanes open. The loss of a large part of the Combined Fleet in this battle would force her to seek a humiliating peace from Germany. As had been said of a British admiral in the Weltkrieg, Taniguchi was the only man on either side who could lose the war in an afternoon. As battle was joined, he ordered the famous 'Z-flag' from Tsushima raised, signalling the fleet that "The Empire's fate depends on the result of this battle, let every man do his utmost duty.".
Nelson might contend that this isn't very original, but as they say in England, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Of the six German battleships, five were first generation dreadnoughts. The modern Japanese ships simply outnumbered their opponents and outclassed them in gun-power, armour and speed. They enveloped the German fleet, sinking the majority of the gunships and two of the three aircraft carriers. The remainder made smoke and fled back to Guam, where aerial bombing from Saipan damaged and destroyed further ships until the IJA overran the port. All remaining German warships were scuttled, annihilating the Kaiserliche Marine's Far East Fleet in exchange for a number of destroyers and a light carrier. Victory at the Marianas renewed Japan's eternal faith and confidence in the wisdom of her Emperor and in the threat and use of force as means of settling international disputes.
This was particularly so as the fleet sent against them appeared to have been composed of just whatever ships the Germans didn't feel they need in Europe, just as the Emperor's advisers had predicted. Clearly they did not want to commit to a serious Pacific naval war. Ironically, though, the poor performance of the German fleet carrier Boelke worried Japanese planners. The IJN had committed to a carrier programme, in part because battleships would take too long to produce, and in part because a decisive advantage was needed to overcome German numbers in the long run. It seemed as if carriers may not be able to provide.
8 Kuchikukantai - Japan will never forget your sacrifice.
But in the West the Kido Butai was still doing very well, albeit because the Germans did not seem to actually have a fleet in the Indian Ocean. Yamamoto took Ceylon and surrounding islands, and with the Germans still cowering in fortress Europe, cruised throughout the Indian Ocean with impunity. Close to having to return to Singapore to re-arm and re-fuel, Yamamoto's carriers bombed the German port of Djibouti in East Africa, inflicting minimal damage but causing the largest single day crash on the Berlin Stock Exchange since Black Monday. Japanese newspapers later claimed that the Germans began burning sensitive papers at Suez and evacuating civilians to Malta.
Japanese carriers at the gates of Europe. Perhaps we have only to kick in the door, and the whole rotten structure will come crashing down? Probably not, though.
These actions won Japan two months of near-complete command of the ocean in the Far East, during which time the AOG was brought under the benevolent protection of the Co-Prosperity Sphere. Only one German stronghold remained in the Orient: Haikou, a rightfully Japanese island formerly belonging to China that hosted a large naval base. From there the Germans were falling back on their Weltkrieg tactics, raiding convoys all around the coast of the South China Sea with U-boats. The force dispatched to bring the island under Japanese protection almost succeeded when an enormous new German fleet appeared, apparently having sneaked past Yamamoto at Singapore.
The moustached gentleman returns for a second round.
The ensuing disaster killed thousands of men and left tens of thousands stranded on Haikou, where theywere captured by the German defenders fought to the death for their beloved Emperor. At last the Germans had realised how great a power Japan truly was, and had dispatched all their remaining fleet carriers and a larger force of modern battleships than the total number of capital ships in service with the IJN. Yamamoto accepted the challenge and intercepted the German fleet near the Spratley Islands. What began as skirmishing by a fast scouting force developed into the world's first fleet carrier battle. The Japanese battlecruiser Hiei and a number of German battleships were sunk, before the German aircraft located the Japanese carriers. First Atago was sunk, and then Akagi and Soryu were hit.
The Z-Flag didn't work this time, unfortunately.
With both of its remaining carriers inoperable, the fleet withdrew to the coast of Indochina while land-based aircraft ineffectively attacked the German fleet at extreme range. Yamamoto then carefully extricated his fleet to Singapore. If the Battle of the Marianas had been a Tsushima, the Battle of the Spratley Islands had been more of a Jutland. Japan had inflicted considerably greater losses in ships, manpower and tonnage, but these were losses the Germans could afford to take. Germany had no shortage of battleships and battlecruisers, while the battle which first dramatically demonstrated the power of the aircraft carrier had also placed all of Japan's carriers out of action - at least temporarily - for no commensurate German loss. The Combined Fleet, which had also been dispatched to engage the Germans, was recalled to Nagasaki in light of the mauling two carriers were now known to be capable of inflicting on surface forces. After two months of complete supremacy, the naval balance had swung back in the other direction. There was now nothing at sea standing between the Kaiserliche Marine and the home islands.
Even the forces of peace and benevolence lose sometimes.
[Notes: Since Suez is in the Suez, it seems I can't attack it without invading Egypt. Not that I was going to, but it's a bit odd.
On the AI's naval strategy: Well, it now at least has one, which is an improvement, and with superior numbers has managed to temporarily take effective control of the seas with a secure base in China, albeit with grossly disproportionate losses. The second fleet it sent was a 30 stack consisting entirely of capital ships and no screens. I am not sure if this is meant to happen. The positioning penalties do not actually seem to be that bad, as the Germans did not seem to be rolling any worse against me than they had been with a balanced fleet at the Marianas. I put this down to my superior doctrines and admirals. In that case, it may be a good use of their numbers, but I'm not sure.
The AI also insists on stacking carriers with battleships. This has had mixed results. At the Marianas it simply resulted in them throwing a carrier away for no benefit as both the decisive battles (initial contact and the final attempted break-out) took place at gunnery ranges. At the Spratleys it helped them immensely. I actually sank a lot more ships than they did, and had a stronger carrier force at the start of the battle (3 vs 2 with a better CAG type), but most of my damage was being absorbed by gunnery ships while theirs disproportionately hit my carriers. Since they can afford to trade gunships with me at a rate of 3:1 and still win, this has certainly been to their advantage, and is what resulted in my loss of the battle.
On China: I had originally wanted to puppet the AOG to prevent an unreasonably large Qing that would ICly be feared to rise up and swamp Japan in the way the much smaller Korea, Fengtien and Transamur puppets had attempted to do. This has not been possible but something else will have to be done instead, so expect some re-organisation of China in the next update.]
The war with the Allgemeine Ostasiatische Gesellschaft receives little attention in the history of the War of Unprovoked Sino-German Aggression. Pitted against the superior fighting élan of Japanese troops, what other outcome could there be for a nation of shopkeepers than total defeat? Being outnumbered two-to-one by better equipped divisions - and the fact that almost no one living there much liked the AOG anyway - might also have had something to do with it. Another reason the war receives little attention is that it was quickly overshadowed by dramatic events unfolding at sea at the same time. The object of contention this time was not a great chunk of continental empire, but the tiny island of Guam which had been brought under Japanese protection when the US federal government collapsed. Confident that the natives would welcome Japanese rule, no garrison had been dispatched, and alarmingly the Germans had managed to invade, placing them within striking distance of the home islands.
We stole it first!
Now that the Qing Imperial Army fought alongside the Japanese, troops could be spared for expanded naval operations. The Western deployment at Singapore was increased, and a reconnaissance-in-force launched against Ceylon and the German Indian Ocean islands using Japan's fast carrier strike force. Since the Germans seemed to have fled in the face of the glorious IJN, it would be left to Yamamoto to decide how far this offensive should be pushed. Smaller cruiser forces would convoy troops to rescue the rest of Indochina and Borneo from Germany. Meanwhile, the battleship Combined Fleet under Taniguchi would move into the Pacific and begin seizing as many German islands as possible, starting with those closest to Japan.
Who is Yamamoto II? That's what I want to know. Also note minor damage to the Combined Fleet from Soviet-Japanese War.
Arriving at the Mariana Islands in late February, the Combined Fleet surprised a substantial force of German battleships accompanied by a carrier. Clearly they had fled Singapore in the wrong direction, become lost, and landed on Guam thinking it was Malta. Realising their mistake, they must have then tried to move back West, stumbling into the Japanese navy. After a brief action, the Germans fled in disarray back behind the guns of the port at Guam, their fleet still mostly intact.
The German admiral may have a moustache, but Taniguchi has better positioning rolls.
SNLF began landings at Saipan, which had not been garrisoned, and moved on to Guam later in the week. After several weeks of bitter ground fighting and frequent naval skirmishes that caused damage on both sides, the Germans decided they had no choice but to attempt a break-out before Japanese field artillery could be brought in range of the port, as had happened to the Russians at Port Arthur. Parallels to the Russo-Japanese War were acutely felt by the Japanese as well. Then as now, Japan's continental empire depended upon keeping the sea-lanes open. The loss of a large part of the Combined Fleet in this battle would force her to seek a humiliating peace from Germany. As had been said of a British admiral in the Weltkrieg, Taniguchi was the only man on either side who could lose the war in an afternoon. As battle was joined, he ordered the famous 'Z-flag' from Tsushima raised, signalling the fleet that "The Empire's fate depends on the result of this battle, let every man do his utmost duty.".
Nelson might contend that this isn't very original, but as they say in England, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Of the six German battleships, five were first generation dreadnoughts. The modern Japanese ships simply outnumbered their opponents and outclassed them in gun-power, armour and speed. They enveloped the German fleet, sinking the majority of the gunships and two of the three aircraft carriers. The remainder made smoke and fled back to Guam, where aerial bombing from Saipan damaged and destroyed further ships until the IJA overran the port. All remaining German warships were scuttled, annihilating the Kaiserliche Marine's Far East Fleet in exchange for a number of destroyers and a light carrier. Victory at the Marianas renewed Japan's eternal faith and confidence in the wisdom of her Emperor and in the threat and use of force as means of settling international disputes.
This was particularly so as the fleet sent against them appeared to have been composed of just whatever ships the Germans didn't feel they need in Europe, just as the Emperor's advisers had predicted. Clearly they did not want to commit to a serious Pacific naval war. Ironically, though, the poor performance of the German fleet carrier Boelke worried Japanese planners. The IJN had committed to a carrier programme, in part because battleships would take too long to produce, and in part because a decisive advantage was needed to overcome German numbers in the long run. It seemed as if carriers may not be able to provide.
8 Kuchikukantai - Japan will never forget your sacrifice.
But in the West the Kido Butai was still doing very well, albeit because the Germans did not seem to actually have a fleet in the Indian Ocean. Yamamoto took Ceylon and surrounding islands, and with the Germans still cowering in fortress Europe, cruised throughout the Indian Ocean with impunity. Close to having to return to Singapore to re-arm and re-fuel, Yamamoto's carriers bombed the German port of Djibouti in East Africa, inflicting minimal damage but causing the largest single day crash on the Berlin Stock Exchange since Black Monday. Japanese newspapers later claimed that the Germans began burning sensitive papers at Suez and evacuating civilians to Malta.
Japanese carriers at the gates of Europe. Perhaps we have only to kick in the door, and the whole rotten structure will come crashing down? Probably not, though.
These actions won Japan two months of near-complete command of the ocean in the Far East, during which time the AOG was brought under the benevolent protection of the Co-Prosperity Sphere. Only one German stronghold remained in the Orient: Haikou, a rightfully Japanese island formerly belonging to China that hosted a large naval base. From there the Germans were falling back on their Weltkrieg tactics, raiding convoys all around the coast of the South China Sea with U-boats. The force dispatched to bring the island under Japanese protection almost succeeded when an enormous new German fleet appeared, apparently having sneaked past Yamamoto at Singapore.
The moustached gentleman returns for a second round.
The ensuing disaster killed thousands of men and left tens of thousands stranded on Haikou, where they
The Z-Flag didn't work this time, unfortunately.
With both of its remaining carriers inoperable, the fleet withdrew to the coast of Indochina while land-based aircraft ineffectively attacked the German fleet at extreme range. Yamamoto then carefully extricated his fleet to Singapore. If the Battle of the Marianas had been a Tsushima, the Battle of the Spratley Islands had been more of a Jutland. Japan had inflicted considerably greater losses in ships, manpower and tonnage, but these were losses the Germans could afford to take. Germany had no shortage of battleships and battlecruisers, while the battle which first dramatically demonstrated the power of the aircraft carrier had also placed all of Japan's carriers out of action - at least temporarily - for no commensurate German loss. The Combined Fleet, which had also been dispatched to engage the Germans, was recalled to Nagasaki in light of the mauling two carriers were now known to be capable of inflicting on surface forces. After two months of complete supremacy, the naval balance had swung back in the other direction. There was now nothing at sea standing between the Kaiserliche Marine and the home islands.
Even the forces of peace and benevolence lose sometimes.
[Notes: Since Suez is in the Suez, it seems I can't attack it without invading Egypt. Not that I was going to, but it's a bit odd.
On the AI's naval strategy: Well, it now at least has one, which is an improvement, and with superior numbers has managed to temporarily take effective control of the seas with a secure base in China, albeit with grossly disproportionate losses. The second fleet it sent was a 30 stack consisting entirely of capital ships and no screens. I am not sure if this is meant to happen. The positioning penalties do not actually seem to be that bad, as the Germans did not seem to be rolling any worse against me than they had been with a balanced fleet at the Marianas. I put this down to my superior doctrines and admirals. In that case, it may be a good use of their numbers, but I'm not sure.
The AI also insists on stacking carriers with battleships. This has had mixed results. At the Marianas it simply resulted in them throwing a carrier away for no benefit as both the decisive battles (initial contact and the final attempted break-out) took place at gunnery ranges. At the Spratleys it helped them immensely. I actually sank a lot more ships than they did, and had a stronger carrier force at the start of the battle (3 vs 2 with a better CAG type), but most of my damage was being absorbed by gunnery ships while theirs disproportionately hit my carriers. Since they can afford to trade gunships with me at a rate of 3:1 and still win, this has certainly been to their advantage, and is what resulted in my loss of the battle.
On China: I had originally wanted to puppet the AOG to prevent an unreasonably large Qing that would ICly be feared to rise up and swamp Japan in the way the much smaller Korea, Fengtien and Transamur puppets had attempted to do. This has not been possible but something else will have to be done instead, so expect some re-organisation of China in the next update.]
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Wow, very nice! If I remember correctly, then battleships are vastly superior to carriers at close range, however carriers will beat the battleships when the engagement distance is high...
6. Tennoheika Banzai
Informed by his loyal Admirals that Japanese forces had suffered a major defeat, Emperor Hirohito concluded that they were experiencing an acute bout of collective delusion, and withdrew to his study to devote his time to his first love,physics marine biology. Two weeks later, suddenly remembering that he had a great and beneficent Empire to govern, Hirohito put his Hydrozoa to one side and re-emerged with renewed strength and vigour to confront the great questions of his day. Questions like, "Why are some countries not ruled by Japan?" and "How might we rectify this grave imbalance in the world order?"
How impolite.
A first step, he decided, would be to stop the German navy running rampage throughout the Sea of Japan, devastating the vital convoys that delivered Japanese civilisation to the continent and brought back thousands of tons of coal, iron, supplies and money (a fair trade if ever there was one). This could not be done while the enormous new German Far East fleet remained at large, and to defeat it one thing was clear: Japan needed carriers! After the Spratley Islands a quick victory in the War of Unprovoked Sino-German Aggression could not be expected, and orders at the shipyards of the Empire were tripled in expectation of a fleet of fourteen carriers by 1940, twelve of which would be new. Respite from convoy raiding was needed sooner, however, and the repairing and re-equipping of Japan's two surviving carriers, Akagi and Soryu, was given absolute priority above all other national projects. No doubt due to Emperor Hirohito's wise guidance, the carrier force was ready to sally once more only three months after its defeat.
Ok, the shipyard workers helped a bit too.
With more convoy ships being sunk each passing day, the Japanese fleet that sailed once more from Singapore was under no illusions that battle could be avoided or postponed. It must be sought out as soon as possible, and joined with great ferocity, for anything less than the sinking or crippling of both remaining German aircraft carriers would snuff out the dreams of so many in Asia, Europe, and elsewhere to live under the benevolent rule of Japan. Every officer and man was resolved to give his life rather than let that happen.
In that case it would be a shame if they lost.
For more than a week the Kaiserliche Marine seemed to avoid battle, obviously terrified of Japan's martial prowess even despite the seeming lack of any Japanese naval forces. Their true purpose quickly became clear, when the Japanese garrison and small fleet at Ceylon reported that they had been heavily bombed by the German carriers, presumably as a prelude to invasion. Seeing his chance to fight a decisive battle on favourable terms, Yamamoto at once made for Ceylon, and encountered the German fleet at the Andaman Islands just West of Singapore.
The German line of battle is now almost as small as all the others combined.
Would peace and civilisation triumph, or would Germany win a second and probably final victory? The German carriers had already expended a great deal of their fuel and ammunition in their attack against Ceylon, but both remained dangerous. Japanese aircraft were told to engage them at the expense of all other targets, even under heavy fire from the rest of the German fleet, while the battlecruisers Kirishima and Kongo surged ahead to distract and harass German forces. When the smoke cleared, both battlecruisers had been engaged and sunk by Peter Strasser and Blumenthal, but they themselves had been located and succumbed in turn to Japanese bombing on the fourth day.
Some on Haikou had started to fear Japanese rule would never come.
Now lacking air-cover, the German fleet scattered Westwards while the Japanese carrier force returned to Ceylon to recover its strength. The enemy fleet now absent, the German island fortress of Haikou finally fell to combined assault from the mainland and marine landing forces. Their naval power in the East shattered, Hirohito determined that the Germans were not worthy of joining the Co-Prosperity Sphere, and requested from the Kaiser only an honourable settlement with respect to the Orient...
He will just have to find himself a new place in the sun.
[Notes: Since the event chain now runs out I'm going to start coding some of my own, and I will try my best to keep the story interesting.
Also there may be no update until after New Year.]
Informed by his loyal Admirals that Japanese forces had suffered a major defeat, Emperor Hirohito concluded that they were experiencing an acute bout of collective delusion, and withdrew to his study to devote his time to his first love,
How impolite.
A first step, he decided, would be to stop the German navy running rampage throughout the Sea of Japan, devastating the vital convoys that delivered Japanese civilisation to the continent and brought back thousands of tons of coal, iron, supplies and money (a fair trade if ever there was one). This could not be done while the enormous new German Far East fleet remained at large, and to defeat it one thing was clear: Japan needed carriers! After the Spratley Islands a quick victory in the War of Unprovoked Sino-German Aggression could not be expected, and orders at the shipyards of the Empire were tripled in expectation of a fleet of fourteen carriers by 1940, twelve of which would be new. Respite from convoy raiding was needed sooner, however, and the repairing and re-equipping of Japan's two surviving carriers, Akagi and Soryu, was given absolute priority above all other national projects. No doubt due to Emperor Hirohito's wise guidance, the carrier force was ready to sally once more only three months after its defeat.
Ok, the shipyard workers helped a bit too.
With more convoy ships being sunk each passing day, the Japanese fleet that sailed once more from Singapore was under no illusions that battle could be avoided or postponed. It must be sought out as soon as possible, and joined with great ferocity, for anything less than the sinking or crippling of both remaining German aircraft carriers would snuff out the dreams of so many in Asia, Europe, and elsewhere to live under the benevolent rule of Japan. Every officer and man was resolved to give his life rather than let that happen.
In that case it would be a shame if they lost.
For more than a week the Kaiserliche Marine seemed to avoid battle, obviously terrified of Japan's martial prowess even despite the seeming lack of any Japanese naval forces. Their true purpose quickly became clear, when the Japanese garrison and small fleet at Ceylon reported that they had been heavily bombed by the German carriers, presumably as a prelude to invasion. Seeing his chance to fight a decisive battle on favourable terms, Yamamoto at once made for Ceylon, and encountered the German fleet at the Andaman Islands just West of Singapore.
The German line of battle is now almost as small as all the others combined.
Would peace and civilisation triumph, or would Germany win a second and probably final victory? The German carriers had already expended a great deal of their fuel and ammunition in their attack against Ceylon, but both remained dangerous. Japanese aircraft were told to engage them at the expense of all other targets, even under heavy fire from the rest of the German fleet, while the battlecruisers Kirishima and Kongo surged ahead to distract and harass German forces. When the smoke cleared, both battlecruisers had been engaged and sunk by Peter Strasser and Blumenthal, but they themselves had been located and succumbed in turn to Japanese bombing on the fourth day.
Some on Haikou had started to fear Japanese rule would never come.
Now lacking air-cover, the German fleet scattered Westwards while the Japanese carrier force returned to Ceylon to recover its strength. The enemy fleet now absent, the German island fortress of Haikou finally fell to combined assault from the mainland and marine landing forces. Their naval power in the East shattered, Hirohito determined that the Germans were not worthy of joining the Co-Prosperity Sphere, and requested from the Kaiser only an honourable settlement with respect to the Orient...
He will just have to find himself a new place in the sun.
[Notes: Since the event chain now runs out I'm going to start coding some of my own, and I will try my best to keep the story interesting.
Also there may be no update until after New Year.]
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