I know my spelling is poor, but bear with me.
1937
The invasion of China and the incident at Marco Polo bridge
The opening invasion was conducted by 3 corps of Infantry with a two divisions of Armour. Two Divisions from the Mongolian Front were also transfered for the attack. Imperial warships began patrolling of the coast of China to prevent Nationalist adventurism. As expected the invasion of Shanxi triggered a response from both Nationalist and Communist China, Xiabe San Ma and Guangxi.
The Battle For Shanxi
Initial resistance was stiff. Beiping held out for three weeks, but finally sucumbed when the Japanese armour and a division of infantry pushed through the coast side while two infantry divisions flanked the city from the West. Once the initial battles were fought and won along the interior large holes in the Shanxi front were opened and infantry divisions began to exploit the opening and pushed for the Communist boarder. The Mongol front calvalry and a single division moved towards the Xiabe boarder and captured two of the boarder provinces, but the invasion was turned back temporarily by Nationalist units.
It quickly became clear that the forces commited to the invasion would not be sufficient to break either the Communist forces or the Nationalists. A full halt to all offensive action was called before the Shanxi was broken and the divisions which had penitrated to the rear were ordered to return.
Efforts were made to increase the number of divisions in china. Recruitment efforts were increased while 2 divisions from Korea and 5 divisions from the Soviet boarder were south to mass in the rear. Mean while 2 more armoured divisions were assembled along with two of the marine divisions intended for the Island territories. The Japanese defence force was also stripped of 3 of its divisions for the coming offence. These forces were assembled in the capital while the bulk of the carrier forces and transport squadrons massed in Edo bay. The reinforcements and there HQ's were then moved in to possition for the offencive. The sea born forces and the fleet assembled off of the Tsingtao panincula and made land fall next the the nearest port (I am not familiar with the new names so I will try and give as best a geographical discription that I can). The lone Nationalist Division was quickly pushed away and the provinces were quickly secured before Nationalist forces could respond.
The Shangxi forces quickly collapsed as the new offencive started and within a week the country surrendered. Choosing to annex the nation and add it to their empire the Japanese moved as quickly as possible to the Communist and Nationalist front.Fortunately for the landing forces the surrender of Shanxi prevented any substantial counter attack.
The Battle for Communist China
Both Communist China and Nationalist forces were quick to move into former Shanxi territory and developed a small buffer for there territory. Xiabe forces were of secondary concern and only holding actions were committed in the extreme west. A new front quickly formed while the landing forces remained isolated from the main army group. The proceeding month resulted in probing attacks and holding actions while the imperial army searched for a weak point in the communist lines.
The bulk of the offencive action during this time was to link up with the landing forces and open up a port closer to the front lines. Three nationalist divisions were isolated as a result of the link up, but the elimination of these divisions was the equivilant to using a glass to empty the ocean.
A new corps of infantry was brought over at this time and small gains were made along the coast.
It was found that communist china had too many divisions to effectively breakthrough there lines and force a surrender. A new Stratagy to spread them out was developed and a month and a half long campaign was launched. A Nationalist province would be captured and then subsiquently lost to the communists. Before the communists could exploit there gains the communist lines were breached by going through the Xiabe boarder and around the western flank while a diversionary attack kept the communists busy. Once the threat was realised a large number of divisions were pulled from the front to counter this attack. At this point the entire front attacked and the weakened defencive line buckled at several points. After two weeks of this offencive the communist capital fell and most of there provinces had fallen to either Nationalist or Japanese forces as the communist army surrendered in large numbers. The government soon found there options limited to one choice... capitulation.
First half of the Battle for Nationalist China
Following the Communist defeat Kwatung operational command decided to establish a demarcation line along the river that runs just north of Shanghi. It was at this time that the army had its first setback. Nationalist forces began a counter offencive. The two armoured divisions were situated along a thinly stretched portion of the central front. The nationalist forces penetrated the Japanese lines in three places and surrounded both armoured divisions. These divisions were the sole advantage the Japanese currently possessed. Infantry divisions immediately began counter attacks and the chinese effort was now solely in holding the encircled units. This had also created two salients, one bulge going north and one goin south. The north salient was next to the stronger coastal forces and an immediat offencive in those sections prevented the chinese from exploiting there gains. Only two divisions were capable of attempting a rescue of the trapped armoured units. Each division was at the tip of one of the salients. The northern division was immediatly extracted from its predicament while the southern division was nearly destroyed. While it was extracted after one of the coastal armour divisions was transfered over, the rescued division was reduced to a strength that rendered them combat ineffective and before reinforcements could reach the front the division was disbanded and it was marked as lost in battle.
Both sides began to experience supply problems at this point and offencives along the main line were reduced to a series of ineffective attacks. This was fortunate for the Japanese because the southern salient was being held by only 3 divisions. This front was 10+ provinces long.
With the surrender of the Communists a large number of infantry divisions were released and efforts to expend the souther Salient. Supply issues limited this effort and instead coastal forces attacked the Eastern side of the Norther salient and slowly pushed the Chinese back while divisions were more evenly distributed along the western and Central portions of the front.
A new Army was made available and sent to Formosa. A new naval task force centered around the Amagi, Fuso and Yamashiro was sent as well. The task force was stationed outside of Shanghi while the Marines were landed south of Shanghi with a single infantry division. Only a single HQ brigade was defending the city and was quickly pushed out. The remaining 7 divisions were soon transported over while these three divisions exploited the lack of enemy forces. The bulk of the army was concearned with linking up to the main front to establish a continious front. This was successful and as the army took up its final possitions both the nationalist Chinese had arrived and so did the supply issues.
After a new army was assembled including 3 marine divisions and 2 medium armour divisions. The renewed offencive was launched against Fozhou using the successful landing tactics that had been used successfully so many times before. The airfield was undefended. Initially the plan was to form a pocket and deprive the chinese of another airfield however with the main front proved to be only a few provinces away and the southern portion had come back into supply so a new offencive was lauched in conjunction. The landing force moved south to attempt to capture a few Guangxi provinces while the main force linked up with the landing force. The southern offencive ended at the boarder however as the newly captured territory proved exceedingly difficult to supply.
During this time sporadic offensives had allowed the main front to reach the objective of the river at most possitions.
Early 1939
The Battle For Guangxi
The the official start of World War Two looming over the horrizon and a distinct need to establish a buffer to defend the upcoming seizure of Indochina (assuming France collapses on sechedual). Guangxi would have to be delt with eventually so 15 divisions were pulled off of the front line and shipped over to Formosa to be reorganized into a large army. The Amagi task force took up possition around the last three ports available to chinese naval forces.
The plan was to use Axis holdings (Portugal) to bring the main body of the attack force safely into Guangxi while marines landed near Canton and on the Island of Hianan. The Main force attacked Wouzhan while the marines successfully took the small panisula and Hianan. The Marines were initially unopposed in there assault and some of the Wouzhan forces were transfered over to exploit this.
It was at this point that I had notice the first diplomatic turbulance for Japan. Germany had used my territory to stage an invasion of Hong Kong. This was a minor upset and easily ignored.
It did not take Guangxi forces to respond and the need for mountain troops became suddenly apparent as my experienced troops were stopped cold and several attempts to reach the French boarder had to be abandoned so a perimeter could be establish. From this point the entire campaign in Guangxi became about annexing this nation instead of simply holding the line. Tactical bombers and interceptors were redirected to this front (which was a first for the entire war) along with the new CAS air group. Efforts to improve 2 engine and CAS aircraft along with their doctrines paid off during the battle. The aircraft turned away Nationalist bombers and provided the ground troops with an invaluable advantage. Whenever the ground troops encountered stiff resisitance with slim chances for victory air support would turn the battle (though it was a long battle). Eventually the armour made it to the capital and it was captured and after another week of fighting the country collapsed.
The last half of the battle for Nationalist China
As it turned out the key to defeating Nationalist China was overrunning the Guangxi clique. The entire army now had nothing standing between them and the Front lines far to the north. This could not have come at a more opportune time as Chinese forces were beging to push Japanese forces back due to a lack of supplies.
Over the next six months large sections of China were captured and the last two airfields near the front line were captured which ment the logistical bombing suddenly ended. While the southern army was starting to meet with resistance the main front renewed its offencive and begain aggesively pushing south and west. The interior Provinces were gone and there was only about 10% of the country left unoccupied.
Nationalist China surrendered.
The Battle for Xiabe San Ma
This battle is more of a foot note then an actuall AAR. Four infantry and 2 Cavalry divisions began to push deep into their territory almost as if the enemy forces were not even their. Under most situations the enemy divisions were nothing more then a speed bump on the road to their capital. This campaign which had begun when Nationalist divisions disappeared from their terrirtory took considerable time. This was due to a non-exsistant infrastructure. Once the country surrendered they were made into a puppet rather then risking revolts in territories that could barely be supplied.
Mar 1940
Inter-war period and Diplomatic Complications
With only Sinkaing and Yunnan left as possible opponents (Tibet is assumed to remain nuetral) the dicision was made to cease hostilities. There were a number of factures leading to this decision.
1. The army was scattered and far from their HQ's and suffering from poor supply.
2. Sinkaing was a member of the Commintern, thus not an option for future expansion.
3. Yunnans independance and continued nuetrality served as a buffer between Occupied china and British India.
The first few months of the peace were spent reorganizing the army, deciding which divisions were going to stay and which would be transfered to future theatres of war. The navy also underwent a restructuring. Indochina was delivered and Siam became a puppet. Siam would prove to be a valuable puppet as it was aggressive and had an army of decent quality. Army corps were designated for the invasion of both Borneo and Malaysia while an Army group was moved into Siam. An army corps was sent to Formosa to invade Luzon while marines were moved to Palau to invade Davao. Three Divisions of marines went to Saipan to invade Guam while a marine Corps and an Infantry Corps went to Turk for the South Pacific Islands.
All available airfroces were divided between siam and Luzon with the exception of the Naval bombers which were dispersed into possitions where they could do the most damage or offer the best defence. Carrier forces were divided into semi historical forces for the bigining of the pacific war with the large carrier force and the Shokaku/Ziukaku force ready to attack pearl harbour.
Honestly at this point I was expecting a decision to show up some time in 41 but it never came, so my plans changed and the main carrier group was brought back to Formosa for procautionary reasons.
Germany made several diplomatic blunders during this time. First they endangered my boarders by inviting both Tibet and Yunnan into the faction. The biggest blunder was the invasion of Java and Sumatra. Germany had plucked the juiciest plum of the Dutch East Indies before I was ready to start hostilities. If it was possible to leave the faction and declare war on Germany I would have right then and there. Fortunately for Germany it wasn't for they were embroiled in operation Barbarossa and would not have been able to stop me. More diplomatic problems would arrise as the war progressed.
December 7, 1941
Japan declared war at 8:00am and began hostilities against the Netherlands and Great Britain (as well as the rest of the Allied Forces). To the total surprise of Japan, the USA remained nuetral. The forces landing at Singapore found the port deserted and took the fortress uncontested. The Siamesse and Japanese forces begain a vigourous attack on Burma, however supperior armoured forces managed to hold the line for some time. Japanese forces landing on Borneo began near Kuching and Sandakan, where the only british forces were located. The main Carrier force was present and a task force or Royal Navy warships intercetped the fleet. The resulting battle Sunk 2 CA's and a score of lesser warships. A week later more ships arrived and engaged the fleet. The Repulse, Resolution, Revenge, Hood, 2 CA's and a handfull of smaller ships were sunk. Unfortunately the Repulse managed to get into the carrier forces, sinking the Kaga and severely damaging the Soryu and Akagi. The task force was withdrawn and the Amagi's task force was sent in to guard the port. This was when the Royal Navy Carrier Task Force accidently stumbled into the Amagi and her escorting Battleships Yamashiro and Fuso. The Couragous, Glorious, Eagle and the entire escorting task force was destroyed. This ended Royal Navy involvement in the pacific. Borneo, Celebes, and New Guenie were taken without any further resistance.
The Eastern Pacific was a hodgepodge of island assaults assisted by the main battlegroup lead by Nagato (3 other BB's) with Hosho as a support ship. Proceeding from Truk and Ewentok this force took Rabaul, Numea, The Gilberts, Fiji, and the Solomans. These forces had the eventual objective of attacking New Zealand. A major battle was fought over Wellington and over three weeks was taken. From this point the force fought running battles to secure important provences and force a surrender. New Zealand changed sides and joined the Axis as a puppet of Japan.
Australia was a more difficult nut to crack. The main force attacked just outside port Darwin and begain to push inward with the main objective of capturing as much coastal road as possible. The attack was blunted due to the areas poor development and supply shortages. A marine Corps assaulted near Townsville and was unopposed, but once they linked up with the main force they experienced supply issues. A smaller more successful force landed near Perth, taking the port and the armour unit managed to push clear across the continent and stopped at Melbourne. This was only because the New Zealand attack force had moved to the western coast and the experienced units overwhelmed the forces defending Sydney, Canberra, and Brisbane. The country surrendered, but the government fled.
The Pacific front was now secure, all that remained was the Indian Front.
This front had become critical due to the fact that Germany called Yunnan and Tibet to fight.
The attacks on Burma was going incredibly slow. A small number of new divisions became available and were transfered to Rangoon along with the Malaysian attack force. The First objective was to attack and remove the threat of Columbo and Tricomalee. This was done quickly and the transfered units along with a few straglers from Burma began an attack on southern India.
The Burma Front had crossed into India and the main drive was now to eliminate Bhutan and Napal and cut British forces which were pushing north towards Japanese China and Xiabe San Ma off from there indian supply forces. Napal was not take from the West and was the first to fall. Forces driving up from the south had managed to attack and capture the capital, forcing a surrender, though the government chose to flee. Napal was taken by a Yunnan Expiditionary force. From start to finish the Indian Campaign took almost a full year to complete.
Two months were then spent reorganizing and regrouping forces. Also a decision had to be made. The Indian Ocean Islands had to be secured but the quest was whether or not to proceed beyond that. South Africa was the obvious choice as there army was overwhelming Portugese colonies. Large forces were being contained in single provinces that could barely be supplied. Also the Arabian Panisula would be attacked. One Army group was assigned to the task and the Indian Ocean Islands were taken in preparation.
Jan 1943
A landing of one full corps in south africa south of the capital (can't spell it). The successfully took a port for supplies but were forced to stay in that port due to an extreme deficency in numbers (a full army corps of malitia containing my forces at the port and the Portugese one provence over).
Middle East
A single Corps was intially landed in Oman but failed to take the capital due to enemy numbers. 2 Corps were landed in Kuwait and attacked Iraq. The Iraqi army was surpisingly deficient compared to the other allies and fell within a week. The excess corps was rerouted to Oman and the force crushed the forces in the capital while the bulk pushed south. When Yemenese forces begain to appear in the British colony between the two countries two infantry divisions were landed next to the capital and the country surrendered. All three Middle East puppets refused to surrender. These forces were rerouted to assist in the conquest of South Africa.
The remaining Iraqi Corps found an irrisistably undefeded Jorden to tempting to not invade. The force was unopposed right to Siani. Here a single division of UK infantry attempted to turn the Corps back, but they were too few. The Corps crossed the Suez canal and Pushed into Ciaro and Alexsandria. From there the continued east until they met the Italians around El Alamein and then went south capturing the bulk of Sudan and what remained of Egypt. They continued around Italian East Africa and into French Central Africa. They made it all the way to Libertyville, met up with Nationalist Spain forces (which were then given to Japan as an Expiditionary force). Quite the success story.
South Africa
The two Corps diverted from the middle east where divided into two forces. The bulk of which were sent to relieve the Portugese forces trapped near south africa. Four Divisions reclaimed lost Portugese territory and then proceeded to gobble up what British colonies that the Africans or the Middle East force did not capture. Then they moved against the Belgians, two from the south of Elizabethtown and two From the North. This took conciderble time. However they succeeded to capture the province and moved East to capture the remaining Belgian Territory. More on this front later.
Three infantry divisions proceeded to attack behind South African lines, now weakened due to the containment of Japanese forces elsewhere and broke through to the Portugese Possitions. Bombers from Japan helped to push further forces away and into South African territory. More Japanese forces where outside the African capital. A single divison with the assistance of Bombers linked up with the Japanese pocket. Three divisions were taken from the pocket along with two of the reinfocement divisions and attacked north of Cape Town. After Capturing the port, two Armour divisions pushed north towards the Eastern Portugese pocket while the three Infantry divisions worked on linking up with other Japanese forces as well as establishing a wider front on the South African Capital. The divisions cooperating with the Portugese managed to move around the north of the Capital and link up with these forces. With the assistance of Carrier based and Land Based bombers the western end of the initial Japanese landing. The battle for the capital was short after a two day bombing campaign. It took a few hours to win the battle. The Amrour pushing north met with resistance, but the Portugese managed to break out and the final Provence under South African control was captured. The country surrrendered and was converted to the Axis cause.
From there units were transfered to the Nothern South African port in Nambia. An amphibious assault was launched against the Belgian Congo. Additional units were funneled in from south africa and attacks inland and north into central French Africa. These forces, now concidered the main expiditionary force, linked up with other Japanese forces moving in this dirrection. However it would be these forces that would bring both territories to heal. The Middle East attack force and the Nationalist Expiditionary force moved into British colonies to the west. The Remaining forces were transfered to Noationalist Spain to help deal with Gibraltar. As it would turn out 250 British brigades were garrisoning the fortress. Over all the battles for Africa took almost 2 years.
The battle of Britian
Early 1945
Gibraltar was a technical failure because the fort did not fall. It did give my units invaluable experience from the three month long seige. Over all I gave up because the logic of how many units were trapped there. I had two fleets with carriers so I left one in the straight to prevent an evac. The army and my fleet I took to Britian itself.
The initial landing next to Portsmouth was a success and the port was quickly secured. The remaining forces were then funneled through this port where they met with resistance from airborn units. These units were effective units but it was 12 to 5 so the ending was a forgon conclusion. Japanese forces broke out and surrounded the capital while other divisions moved towards Liverpool and Edinbourgh. The country surrendered following a 2 week battle over London.
Partition
Intitially the country was annexed, but only long enough to create India, Pakistan, Gyuana, Egypt, Isreal, Palistine, and Jordan. In edition both Oman and Iraq gave up the fight as well as belgium and the Netherlands. While I created two puppets Germany annexed Belgium and created Holland as a puppet which means that all of the Japanese gains in the Dutch East Indies were lost. One more slight to pile on the Japanese deck of Grudges.
Siege of scapa and absorbtion of two more Nations
Mid 45
Ireland and Liberia were both Allies and had to be delt with. Monrovia was assaulted dirrectly from the sea and captured quickly. Ireland was captured by funneling 2 divisions into Northern Ireland as a precautionary measure while divisions landed next to both Cork and Dublin which were poorly defended. Two more puppet nations for Japanese control.
The siege of Scapa Flow was a necessity. 21 divisions from exiled governements were located there and the British forces were already attacking. The addition of the Japanese force that attacked Britain helped secure the victory. The siege took a full year to complete.
The Final assault - Canada
The conquest of Canada was a massive impracticallity. The only possible invasion route available was through the Maritime Provences. Reinforcements were far away and had to be brought from Japan. The seige of Scapa flow was still in progress when the landing took place at Yarmoth Halifax was captured but the Canadian Army stopped the Japanese there. Once the forces from Britain arrived in late 1946 the battle was swung to the Japanese and Nova Scotia, PEI, and New Brunswick were captured but the war was proceeding with WWI style efficiency. The date was March 21, 1947 and Germany was still fighting the Soviet Union (though losing with snail like speed). Vancouver would need to be attacked to end the war and this was not possible Before Dec 31, 1948. I decided to call it a victory for Japan.
1937
The invasion of China and the incident at Marco Polo bridge
The opening invasion was conducted by 3 corps of Infantry with a two divisions of Armour. Two Divisions from the Mongolian Front were also transfered for the attack. Imperial warships began patrolling of the coast of China to prevent Nationalist adventurism. As expected the invasion of Shanxi triggered a response from both Nationalist and Communist China, Xiabe San Ma and Guangxi.
The Battle For Shanxi
Initial resistance was stiff. Beiping held out for three weeks, but finally sucumbed when the Japanese armour and a division of infantry pushed through the coast side while two infantry divisions flanked the city from the West. Once the initial battles were fought and won along the interior large holes in the Shanxi front were opened and infantry divisions began to exploit the opening and pushed for the Communist boarder. The Mongol front calvalry and a single division moved towards the Xiabe boarder and captured two of the boarder provinces, but the invasion was turned back temporarily by Nationalist units.
It quickly became clear that the forces commited to the invasion would not be sufficient to break either the Communist forces or the Nationalists. A full halt to all offensive action was called before the Shanxi was broken and the divisions which had penitrated to the rear were ordered to return.
Efforts were made to increase the number of divisions in china. Recruitment efforts were increased while 2 divisions from Korea and 5 divisions from the Soviet boarder were south to mass in the rear. Mean while 2 more armoured divisions were assembled along with two of the marine divisions intended for the Island territories. The Japanese defence force was also stripped of 3 of its divisions for the coming offence. These forces were assembled in the capital while the bulk of the carrier forces and transport squadrons massed in Edo bay. The reinforcements and there HQ's were then moved in to possition for the offencive. The sea born forces and the fleet assembled off of the Tsingtao panincula and made land fall next the the nearest port (I am not familiar with the new names so I will try and give as best a geographical discription that I can). The lone Nationalist Division was quickly pushed away and the provinces were quickly secured before Nationalist forces could respond.
The Shangxi forces quickly collapsed as the new offencive started and within a week the country surrendered. Choosing to annex the nation and add it to their empire the Japanese moved as quickly as possible to the Communist and Nationalist front.Fortunately for the landing forces the surrender of Shanxi prevented any substantial counter attack.
The Battle for Communist China
Both Communist China and Nationalist forces were quick to move into former Shanxi territory and developed a small buffer for there territory. Xiabe forces were of secondary concern and only holding actions were committed in the extreme west. A new front quickly formed while the landing forces remained isolated from the main army group. The proceeding month resulted in probing attacks and holding actions while the imperial army searched for a weak point in the communist lines.
The bulk of the offencive action during this time was to link up with the landing forces and open up a port closer to the front lines. Three nationalist divisions were isolated as a result of the link up, but the elimination of these divisions was the equivilant to using a glass to empty the ocean.
A new corps of infantry was brought over at this time and small gains were made along the coast.
It was found that communist china had too many divisions to effectively breakthrough there lines and force a surrender. A new Stratagy to spread them out was developed and a month and a half long campaign was launched. A Nationalist province would be captured and then subsiquently lost to the communists. Before the communists could exploit there gains the communist lines were breached by going through the Xiabe boarder and around the western flank while a diversionary attack kept the communists busy. Once the threat was realised a large number of divisions were pulled from the front to counter this attack. At this point the entire front attacked and the weakened defencive line buckled at several points. After two weeks of this offencive the communist capital fell and most of there provinces had fallen to either Nationalist or Japanese forces as the communist army surrendered in large numbers. The government soon found there options limited to one choice... capitulation.
First half of the Battle for Nationalist China
Following the Communist defeat Kwatung operational command decided to establish a demarcation line along the river that runs just north of Shanghi. It was at this time that the army had its first setback. Nationalist forces began a counter offencive. The two armoured divisions were situated along a thinly stretched portion of the central front. The nationalist forces penetrated the Japanese lines in three places and surrounded both armoured divisions. These divisions were the sole advantage the Japanese currently possessed. Infantry divisions immediately began counter attacks and the chinese effort was now solely in holding the encircled units. This had also created two salients, one bulge going north and one goin south. The north salient was next to the stronger coastal forces and an immediat offencive in those sections prevented the chinese from exploiting there gains. Only two divisions were capable of attempting a rescue of the trapped armoured units. Each division was at the tip of one of the salients. The northern division was immediatly extracted from its predicament while the southern division was nearly destroyed. While it was extracted after one of the coastal armour divisions was transfered over, the rescued division was reduced to a strength that rendered them combat ineffective and before reinforcements could reach the front the division was disbanded and it was marked as lost in battle.
Both sides began to experience supply problems at this point and offencives along the main line were reduced to a series of ineffective attacks. This was fortunate for the Japanese because the southern salient was being held by only 3 divisions. This front was 10+ provinces long.
With the surrender of the Communists a large number of infantry divisions were released and efforts to expend the souther Salient. Supply issues limited this effort and instead coastal forces attacked the Eastern side of the Norther salient and slowly pushed the Chinese back while divisions were more evenly distributed along the western and Central portions of the front.
A new Army was made available and sent to Formosa. A new naval task force centered around the Amagi, Fuso and Yamashiro was sent as well. The task force was stationed outside of Shanghi while the Marines were landed south of Shanghi with a single infantry division. Only a single HQ brigade was defending the city and was quickly pushed out. The remaining 7 divisions were soon transported over while these three divisions exploited the lack of enemy forces. The bulk of the army was concearned with linking up to the main front to establish a continious front. This was successful and as the army took up its final possitions both the nationalist Chinese had arrived and so did the supply issues.
After a new army was assembled including 3 marine divisions and 2 medium armour divisions. The renewed offencive was launched against Fozhou using the successful landing tactics that had been used successfully so many times before. The airfield was undefended. Initially the plan was to form a pocket and deprive the chinese of another airfield however with the main front proved to be only a few provinces away and the southern portion had come back into supply so a new offencive was lauched in conjunction. The landing force moved south to attempt to capture a few Guangxi provinces while the main force linked up with the landing force. The southern offencive ended at the boarder however as the newly captured territory proved exceedingly difficult to supply.
During this time sporadic offensives had allowed the main front to reach the objective of the river at most possitions.
Early 1939
The Battle For Guangxi
The the official start of World War Two looming over the horrizon and a distinct need to establish a buffer to defend the upcoming seizure of Indochina (assuming France collapses on sechedual). Guangxi would have to be delt with eventually so 15 divisions were pulled off of the front line and shipped over to Formosa to be reorganized into a large army. The Amagi task force took up possition around the last three ports available to chinese naval forces.
The plan was to use Axis holdings (Portugal) to bring the main body of the attack force safely into Guangxi while marines landed near Canton and on the Island of Hianan. The Main force attacked Wouzhan while the marines successfully took the small panisula and Hianan. The Marines were initially unopposed in there assault and some of the Wouzhan forces were transfered over to exploit this.
It was at this point that I had notice the first diplomatic turbulance for Japan. Germany had used my territory to stage an invasion of Hong Kong. This was a minor upset and easily ignored.
It did not take Guangxi forces to respond and the need for mountain troops became suddenly apparent as my experienced troops were stopped cold and several attempts to reach the French boarder had to be abandoned so a perimeter could be establish. From this point the entire campaign in Guangxi became about annexing this nation instead of simply holding the line. Tactical bombers and interceptors were redirected to this front (which was a first for the entire war) along with the new CAS air group. Efforts to improve 2 engine and CAS aircraft along with their doctrines paid off during the battle. The aircraft turned away Nationalist bombers and provided the ground troops with an invaluable advantage. Whenever the ground troops encountered stiff resisitance with slim chances for victory air support would turn the battle (though it was a long battle). Eventually the armour made it to the capital and it was captured and after another week of fighting the country collapsed.
The last half of the battle for Nationalist China
As it turned out the key to defeating Nationalist China was overrunning the Guangxi clique. The entire army now had nothing standing between them and the Front lines far to the north. This could not have come at a more opportune time as Chinese forces were beging to push Japanese forces back due to a lack of supplies.
Over the next six months large sections of China were captured and the last two airfields near the front line were captured which ment the logistical bombing suddenly ended. While the southern army was starting to meet with resistance the main front renewed its offencive and begain aggesively pushing south and west. The interior Provinces were gone and there was only about 10% of the country left unoccupied.
Nationalist China surrendered.
The Battle for Xiabe San Ma
This battle is more of a foot note then an actuall AAR. Four infantry and 2 Cavalry divisions began to push deep into their territory almost as if the enemy forces were not even their. Under most situations the enemy divisions were nothing more then a speed bump on the road to their capital. This campaign which had begun when Nationalist divisions disappeared from their terrirtory took considerable time. This was due to a non-exsistant infrastructure. Once the country surrendered they were made into a puppet rather then risking revolts in territories that could barely be supplied.
Mar 1940
Inter-war period and Diplomatic Complications
With only Sinkaing and Yunnan left as possible opponents (Tibet is assumed to remain nuetral) the dicision was made to cease hostilities. There were a number of factures leading to this decision.
1. The army was scattered and far from their HQ's and suffering from poor supply.
2. Sinkaing was a member of the Commintern, thus not an option for future expansion.
3. Yunnans independance and continued nuetrality served as a buffer between Occupied china and British India.
The first few months of the peace were spent reorganizing the army, deciding which divisions were going to stay and which would be transfered to future theatres of war. The navy also underwent a restructuring. Indochina was delivered and Siam became a puppet. Siam would prove to be a valuable puppet as it was aggressive and had an army of decent quality. Army corps were designated for the invasion of both Borneo and Malaysia while an Army group was moved into Siam. An army corps was sent to Formosa to invade Luzon while marines were moved to Palau to invade Davao. Three Divisions of marines went to Saipan to invade Guam while a marine Corps and an Infantry Corps went to Turk for the South Pacific Islands.
All available airfroces were divided between siam and Luzon with the exception of the Naval bombers which were dispersed into possitions where they could do the most damage or offer the best defence. Carrier forces were divided into semi historical forces for the bigining of the pacific war with the large carrier force and the Shokaku/Ziukaku force ready to attack pearl harbour.
Honestly at this point I was expecting a decision to show up some time in 41 but it never came, so my plans changed and the main carrier group was brought back to Formosa for procautionary reasons.
Germany made several diplomatic blunders during this time. First they endangered my boarders by inviting both Tibet and Yunnan into the faction. The biggest blunder was the invasion of Java and Sumatra. Germany had plucked the juiciest plum of the Dutch East Indies before I was ready to start hostilities. If it was possible to leave the faction and declare war on Germany I would have right then and there. Fortunately for Germany it wasn't for they were embroiled in operation Barbarossa and would not have been able to stop me. More diplomatic problems would arrise as the war progressed.
December 7, 1941
Japan declared war at 8:00am and began hostilities against the Netherlands and Great Britain (as well as the rest of the Allied Forces). To the total surprise of Japan, the USA remained nuetral. The forces landing at Singapore found the port deserted and took the fortress uncontested. The Siamesse and Japanese forces begain a vigourous attack on Burma, however supperior armoured forces managed to hold the line for some time. Japanese forces landing on Borneo began near Kuching and Sandakan, where the only british forces were located. The main Carrier force was present and a task force or Royal Navy warships intercetped the fleet. The resulting battle Sunk 2 CA's and a score of lesser warships. A week later more ships arrived and engaged the fleet. The Repulse, Resolution, Revenge, Hood, 2 CA's and a handfull of smaller ships were sunk. Unfortunately the Repulse managed to get into the carrier forces, sinking the Kaga and severely damaging the Soryu and Akagi. The task force was withdrawn and the Amagi's task force was sent in to guard the port. This was when the Royal Navy Carrier Task Force accidently stumbled into the Amagi and her escorting Battleships Yamashiro and Fuso. The Couragous, Glorious, Eagle and the entire escorting task force was destroyed. This ended Royal Navy involvement in the pacific. Borneo, Celebes, and New Guenie were taken without any further resistance.
The Eastern Pacific was a hodgepodge of island assaults assisted by the main battlegroup lead by Nagato (3 other BB's) with Hosho as a support ship. Proceeding from Truk and Ewentok this force took Rabaul, Numea, The Gilberts, Fiji, and the Solomans. These forces had the eventual objective of attacking New Zealand. A major battle was fought over Wellington and over three weeks was taken. From this point the force fought running battles to secure important provences and force a surrender. New Zealand changed sides and joined the Axis as a puppet of Japan.
Australia was a more difficult nut to crack. The main force attacked just outside port Darwin and begain to push inward with the main objective of capturing as much coastal road as possible. The attack was blunted due to the areas poor development and supply shortages. A marine Corps assaulted near Townsville and was unopposed, but once they linked up with the main force they experienced supply issues. A smaller more successful force landed near Perth, taking the port and the armour unit managed to push clear across the continent and stopped at Melbourne. This was only because the New Zealand attack force had moved to the western coast and the experienced units overwhelmed the forces defending Sydney, Canberra, and Brisbane. The country surrendered, but the government fled.
The Pacific front was now secure, all that remained was the Indian Front.
This front had become critical due to the fact that Germany called Yunnan and Tibet to fight.
The attacks on Burma was going incredibly slow. A small number of new divisions became available and were transfered to Rangoon along with the Malaysian attack force. The First objective was to attack and remove the threat of Columbo and Tricomalee. This was done quickly and the transfered units along with a few straglers from Burma began an attack on southern India.
The Burma Front had crossed into India and the main drive was now to eliminate Bhutan and Napal and cut British forces which were pushing north towards Japanese China and Xiabe San Ma off from there indian supply forces. Napal was not take from the West and was the first to fall. Forces driving up from the south had managed to attack and capture the capital, forcing a surrender, though the government chose to flee. Napal was taken by a Yunnan Expiditionary force. From start to finish the Indian Campaign took almost a full year to complete.
Two months were then spent reorganizing and regrouping forces. Also a decision had to be made. The Indian Ocean Islands had to be secured but the quest was whether or not to proceed beyond that. South Africa was the obvious choice as there army was overwhelming Portugese colonies. Large forces were being contained in single provinces that could barely be supplied. Also the Arabian Panisula would be attacked. One Army group was assigned to the task and the Indian Ocean Islands were taken in preparation.
Jan 1943
A landing of one full corps in south africa south of the capital (can't spell it). The successfully took a port for supplies but were forced to stay in that port due to an extreme deficency in numbers (a full army corps of malitia containing my forces at the port and the Portugese one provence over).
Middle East
A single Corps was intially landed in Oman but failed to take the capital due to enemy numbers. 2 Corps were landed in Kuwait and attacked Iraq. The Iraqi army was surpisingly deficient compared to the other allies and fell within a week. The excess corps was rerouted to Oman and the force crushed the forces in the capital while the bulk pushed south. When Yemenese forces begain to appear in the British colony between the two countries two infantry divisions were landed next to the capital and the country surrendered. All three Middle East puppets refused to surrender. These forces were rerouted to assist in the conquest of South Africa.
The remaining Iraqi Corps found an irrisistably undefeded Jorden to tempting to not invade. The force was unopposed right to Siani. Here a single division of UK infantry attempted to turn the Corps back, but they were too few. The Corps crossed the Suez canal and Pushed into Ciaro and Alexsandria. From there the continued east until they met the Italians around El Alamein and then went south capturing the bulk of Sudan and what remained of Egypt. They continued around Italian East Africa and into French Central Africa. They made it all the way to Libertyville, met up with Nationalist Spain forces (which were then given to Japan as an Expiditionary force). Quite the success story.
South Africa
The two Corps diverted from the middle east where divided into two forces. The bulk of which were sent to relieve the Portugese forces trapped near south africa. Four Divisions reclaimed lost Portugese territory and then proceeded to gobble up what British colonies that the Africans or the Middle East force did not capture. Then they moved against the Belgians, two from the south of Elizabethtown and two From the North. This took conciderble time. However they succeeded to capture the province and moved East to capture the remaining Belgian Territory. More on this front later.
Three infantry divisions proceeded to attack behind South African lines, now weakened due to the containment of Japanese forces elsewhere and broke through to the Portugese Possitions. Bombers from Japan helped to push further forces away and into South African territory. More Japanese forces where outside the African capital. A single divison with the assistance of Bombers linked up with the Japanese pocket. Three divisions were taken from the pocket along with two of the reinfocement divisions and attacked north of Cape Town. After Capturing the port, two Armour divisions pushed north towards the Eastern Portugese pocket while the three Infantry divisions worked on linking up with other Japanese forces as well as establishing a wider front on the South African Capital. The divisions cooperating with the Portugese managed to move around the north of the Capital and link up with these forces. With the assistance of Carrier based and Land Based bombers the western end of the initial Japanese landing. The battle for the capital was short after a two day bombing campaign. It took a few hours to win the battle. The Amrour pushing north met with resistance, but the Portugese managed to break out and the final Provence under South African control was captured. The country surrrendered and was converted to the Axis cause.
From there units were transfered to the Nothern South African port in Nambia. An amphibious assault was launched against the Belgian Congo. Additional units were funneled in from south africa and attacks inland and north into central French Africa. These forces, now concidered the main expiditionary force, linked up with other Japanese forces moving in this dirrection. However it would be these forces that would bring both territories to heal. The Middle East attack force and the Nationalist Expiditionary force moved into British colonies to the west. The Remaining forces were transfered to Noationalist Spain to help deal with Gibraltar. As it would turn out 250 British brigades were garrisoning the fortress. Over all the battles for Africa took almost 2 years.
The battle of Britian
Early 1945
Gibraltar was a technical failure because the fort did not fall. It did give my units invaluable experience from the three month long seige. Over all I gave up because the logic of how many units were trapped there. I had two fleets with carriers so I left one in the straight to prevent an evac. The army and my fleet I took to Britian itself.
The initial landing next to Portsmouth was a success and the port was quickly secured. The remaining forces were then funneled through this port where they met with resistance from airborn units. These units were effective units but it was 12 to 5 so the ending was a forgon conclusion. Japanese forces broke out and surrounded the capital while other divisions moved towards Liverpool and Edinbourgh. The country surrendered following a 2 week battle over London.
Partition
Intitially the country was annexed, but only long enough to create India, Pakistan, Gyuana, Egypt, Isreal, Palistine, and Jordan. In edition both Oman and Iraq gave up the fight as well as belgium and the Netherlands. While I created two puppets Germany annexed Belgium and created Holland as a puppet which means that all of the Japanese gains in the Dutch East Indies were lost. One more slight to pile on the Japanese deck of Grudges.
Siege of scapa and absorbtion of two more Nations
Mid 45
Ireland and Liberia were both Allies and had to be delt with. Monrovia was assaulted dirrectly from the sea and captured quickly. Ireland was captured by funneling 2 divisions into Northern Ireland as a precautionary measure while divisions landed next to both Cork and Dublin which were poorly defended. Two more puppet nations for Japanese control.
The siege of Scapa Flow was a necessity. 21 divisions from exiled governements were located there and the British forces were already attacking. The addition of the Japanese force that attacked Britain helped secure the victory. The siege took a full year to complete.
The Final assault - Canada
The conquest of Canada was a massive impracticallity. The only possible invasion route available was through the Maritime Provences. Reinforcements were far away and had to be brought from Japan. The seige of Scapa flow was still in progress when the landing took place at Yarmoth Halifax was captured but the Canadian Army stopped the Japanese there. Once the forces from Britain arrived in late 1946 the battle was swung to the Japanese and Nova Scotia, PEI, and New Brunswick were captured but the war was proceeding with WWI style efficiency. The date was March 21, 1947 and Germany was still fighting the Soviet Union (though losing with snail like speed). Vancouver would need to be attacked to end the war and this was not possible Before Dec 31, 1948. I decided to call it a victory for Japan.
