@History_Buff: Foreign intervention from the EF may be the only way they could possibly win the war, but despite that, expect the Americans to fight with everything they have left. As you will see in this update, casualties for Japan are becoming....extreme.
@hoi2geek: This was never going to be a WC game so I will not be trying to pick a fight with the mighty EF or any other faction. Once the war with the Coalition is over, this AAR is over.
@damnjoe: By conquering lots of new industries and getting lots of economic growth events, which over time have made Japan a real industrial powerhouse, at least when it has the resources it needs.
@everyone else: Thanks for the comments!
Even though Texas has fallen to the Japanese army, and things for the Americans look bleaker and bleaker every passing day, the Americans are far from giving up the fight. Instead, wherever they sense weakness, they counterattack and try to regain lost ground wherever they can. The Americans make their determination painfully clear in eastern Montana, where a major American force, spearheaded by tanks and heavy mechanized infantry, lays into local Japanese units with everything they have in an attempt to drive them back. Japanese soldiers fight bravely, despite being outnumbered and outgunned, they refuse to surrender, and fight literally until the death. It is only when Japanese commanders finally order them to withdraw that these soldiers finally do so, but there are barely any left to receive the order. Japanese paratrooper units have suffered monstrous casualties, being reduced to only handfuls of wounded and battered soldiers who have left behind many comrades at the front.
In retaliation, Japanese forces pound the American troops responsible for this bloody defeat with merciless firepower and attacks. The Americans are ground away, losing many of their troops, vehicles, and aircraft in North Dakota before Japanese troops call of their victorious counterattack. Hopefully counteroffensives like this will be enough to keep the Americans at bay, but Japanese soldiers and their allies are running more and more out of steam with every battle, and will not be able to keep this up forever.
In the south, Japanese commanders are preparing to take advantage of their recent major success in Texas to finish off one of America's most valiant allies. Mexico, which also refuses to surrender to Japanese forces, is now cut off and isolated from further US Army reinforcements. However, they can still possibly call for aid from their South American coalition allies, so tougher resistance can still be expected. Despite this, Japanese troops and their allies are preparing to deal the killing blow to the Mexicans and end the war in Latin America for good.
To do this, Mexico City, which has stood in Japan's way for far too long, must fall immediately. To make sure it does, Japanese led forces begin to envelop the city from the east, attacking Puebla with massive force. Mexican Army soldiers, fighting with everything they have left, do not make it easy, defending Puebla with a massive number of their remaining troops. Despite this challenge, their lines begin to brake, and Japanese led forces advance into the region.
Meanwhile, in California, a major reinforcement package arrives from Korea, consisting of thousands of Indian and Vietnamese soldiers. This is essentially the last major reinforcement group that Japan can expect to receive from either its empire or its allies. Other than these fresh soldiers, there is essentially nothing left to be shipped over from Asia to the American frontlines. These soldiers will be redeployed along the frontlines, to fill gaps in the Japanese lines and relieve exhausted Japanese, Korean, and Manchukuo Army units which are reaching their breaking points.
As Puebla falls to Japanese forces, Japan launches yet another major offensive to take control of Mexico city. Although running low on manpower and ammunition, the Mexicans are determined never to give up control of their battered and besieged capital, despite the fact that the city has sustained huge damage and its defenders cannot hope to hold out for much longer. faced with still determined enemy defenders, the attack is called off to avoid unnecessary casualties.
Puebla falls into Japanese hands. In response, Mexican commanders hurl some of the last of their remaining forces into a ferocious counteroffensive to retake the city. The fighting is ferocious, with Mexican soldiers throwing themselves into battle with great ferocity and determination. In the end, heavier Japanese firepower wins the battle, but only just barely, as both sides take heavy losses.
Then, at long last, the breakthrough Japanese commanders had been hoping for. Almost surrounded, and worn down to the breaking point, the Mexican Army forces defending Mexico City buckle, and then break, fleeing their positions and abandoning the city to the Japanese. Japanese airmobile infantry troops are the first units to enter the battered and burned Mexican Presidential palace, hoisting the Japanese Imperial flag high above the city in victory. At long last, Mexico City is in Japanese hands!
With a breakthrough finally achieved, Japanese forces lead their allies in a surge southwards, clearing the southern Pacific coast and advancing to the outskirts of Villahermosa. Then, disaster. Japanese forces run headlong into the final Mexican line of defense, a densely packed line outside of Villahermosa consisting of nearly every soldier, tank, vehicle, and artillery piece the Mexican Army still has in its arsenal. Faced with massive in-depth defenses and Mexican forces that are very strongly dug in within the forests, hills, and jungles of the area, Japanese led troops are unable to make any further advances. The entire march south has stopped dead in its tracks.
Japanese commanders begin to take Japanese Army units out of the line and start transporting them to the pacific coast, a move that does not go unnoticed by the Mexican forces. Tipped off by guerrilla's that are left behind to harass Japanese rear areas, the Mexican army hurls everything it has in a massive counteroffensive on Puebla. The Mexicans hope to drive the weakened Japanese allied forces of Korea, India, and Manchukuo out of Puebla in a move to retake Mexico city, and from there, to liberate the rest of their country. Japanese allied forces are ordered by their commanders to hold at all costs, and never to give ground until either the last enemy soldiers die or they themselves fall. Massive casualties mount in the ranks of both armies, and control of the region hangs in the balance.
Finally, further south, Japanese forces, some of the best units still combat capable in the Japanese invasion of Mexico, begin to deal the final blow that should end Mexican resistance once and for all. Japanese generals decide that the best way of overcoming the Mexican armies holding the Villahermosa line is not to attack directly, but simply to do what the German Army did in 1940 when faced with the French Maginot line: to simply bypass them. In a major amphibious assault, commando's and soldiers invade Mexican administered Costa Rica by sea, quickly destroying local defending units and soon taking control of San Jose and the entire area. It is hoped that this amphibious landing will finally spell the end for the Mexican state, as well as bring the valuable Panama Canal zone under Japanese control. Then, the final stage of the war can finally begin....
