The Little Giant - A Kaiserreich Japan AAR

[SotV]

Read through and completely enjoyed. Congrats on writing an AAR where Japan conquers the U.S. that doesn't come across as completely batshit insane.

But whatever happened to MacArthur, the King, and the Pope? Are they dead? In hiding? Did I miss an episode? :huh:

 

[unmerged(228389)]

Sorry for the long absence folks. I'm back for only a short update, then that might well happen again!

@SotV Ah, some of the AAR's great villains!
MacArthur escaped to Canada after the fall of the United States. Presumably he died during the fall of Canada, but I never specified in the text. Basically because I was afraid he'd show up as the president of the Confederation of Great Lakes or something...

Edward VIII died in heroic battle at some point during the series of massive battles between the first modern Japanese battleship fleet (and every other fighting ship I had left at the time) and the out-dated but much-larger Anglo-American Fleet. A quirk of decisions, alliances, and land defeats had caused the agglomeration of all the various American fleets, the Canadian fleet, and the Caribbean fleet under the King's command.

The Pope disappeared when the Internationale dismantled the Italian Federation. Some think he was captured by the syndicalists and kept prisoner in a vile plot to weaken the church. It seems more likely he escaped the fall of Rome by sea, making for either North Africa or the Strait of Gibraltar. By this point, most people assume his ship was lost during the confusion of war. Though some anti-Catholic activists claim to have sighted the Pope in civilian clothes in MittelAfrika, abandoning his religious title for fear of syndicalist assassins. And a few breakaway Catholic zealots hold out hope that the "true pope" is even now undergoing a spiritual journey through the desert brought on by the fall of Rome. Eventually, after following the path of Moses, these zealots prophesize he will reappear in Jerusalem, heralding either a new age of the Catholic church in the Holy City or the Second Coming itself.

The papal interregnum lasted almost two years after the Pope disappeared, presumably to the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea. Surviving cardinals feared electing a new Pope lest the old one reappear, and their indecision (and lack of faith) severely hurt the church. With the syndicalist domination of Europe and the unwillingness of the Catholic hierarchy to associate itself with the discredited colonial governments of Catholic Africa, the Church's headquarters are now in... Havana, Cuba. While this is now the most stable part of the Latin American Catholic heartland, giving the Church a chance to reorganize after repeated disaster, there are problems...

Havana, Cuba, is not anywhere near as prestigious as Rome, Italy, and the loss of prestige is very damaging to religion. The syndicalist victory in the Brazil-La Plata War also damaged the church even in overwhelmingly Catholic South America. Perhaps most frightening, there are rumors that some of the new cardinals secretly perform forbidden sacrifices to idolatrous gods called orishas. The Japanese government fears that the stable democracy in Cuba could be threatened if the Catholic Church responds to these rumors by mounting a violent new inquisition against Santeria.

 

[unmerged(228389)]

Limited transportation infrastructure in northeastern Persia made Tabriz the natural focal point for the Russian attempt to break the Japanese encirclement in the Middle East. Nine divisions poured over the mountains east of Tabriz from the shores of the Caspian Sea, advancing rapidly on the city. Japanese defenders met them at Ardabil, cavalry divisions rushing to concentrate armored brigades in the path of the enemy attack.

Ardabil held for roughly a day before Russian troops overwhelmed Japanese positions in the city. The officers leading Japan's veteran cavalry divisions struggled to organize a mobile defense that would show the process towards Tabriz, though they often found themselves hampered by low ammunition stocks and a shortage of spare parts. Rumors of reinforcements moving north from Hamadan spread quickly, largely because there seemed little other hope to halt the Russian attack.

Fresh recruits were still arriving in the region, with the First Transport Fleet under Yamaguchi delivering six divisions to the Chinese enclave at Kuwait City.

All of Japan's transport fleets remained busy. Over the course of some weeks, Mikawa and the Third Transport Fleet delivered an army of American veterans to the Home Islands, where they would enjoy a much-deserved and all-too-short period of leave before the Second Transport Fleet arrived to redeploy them.

Merchant vessels carried a continuous supply of resources to Turkey to ensure the war effort did not collapse with the production and economy of the Middle East.

Passage through the Suez remained quite safe, due to the day and night efforts of ever-vigilant Japanese fighter pilots.

With so many soldiers recalled across the Pacific, the advance across America slowed. But it seemed impossible that the Federated Union of America would be able to revive its fortunes.

In India the Russians threatened to reach the Bay of Bengal through Odisha, while a second offensive pushed towards the Princely Federation's capital. A Indian was putting up impressive resistance, however, and the Russian attack had significantly fewer troops than planned due to the effort in northwestern Persia.

With Russians pouring into the Battle of Tabriz, Japan's cavalry units faltered, unable to defend the city. As the last resistance in the center of Tabriz was snuffed out, desperate plans were drawn up to hold the roads north and south of Lake Urmia, to the west of the city, preserving the Japanese line just long enough for reinforcements to begin a counterattack.

To the south, isolated Russian troops surrounding Kuwait were low on supplies, suddenly heavily outnumbered, and even suffering attacks from Japanese naval guns. The effort to crush the largest encirclement in military history had begin.

The Japanese navy and air forces kept up their end of the effort, sinking an Internationale convoy in the Sea of Crete thought to be an attempt to deliver needed supplies to Russian-held ports in the Levant.

And while Cossack militias were reclaiming the north Caucasus, Japan chose not to oppose them; instead, unsupplied Russian units west of Armenia were easily routed by Japanese forces.

The exhausted grunts attempting to hold back the Russians west of Tabriz broke shortly before airborne units (in this case marching on foot), arrived to take up their positions. For a few hours it looked like the Russian assault had succeeded, but elite Japanese troops heroically threw the Russian vanguard back and prevented a breakthrough. The battle continued to rage, with the Japanese elite forces immediately suffering significant casualties, but the encirclement of the Middle East did not break.

The Mongols, during their initial attack on Russia, managed to effectively cut the Russian Far East off from Siberia proper, though Irkutsk remained the only significant urban center occupied by the Mongols. Russia had not, apparently, left its borders entirely undefended.

When the long-awaited collapse of the Federated Union of America finally came, it was a swift as observers expected. Only a few die-hards held out against Japan in the Appalachian Mountains.

With the success against the last government openly hostile to Japan, it was urgent to transfer as much of Japan's army as could be spared out of the Americas. To that end, the First Transport Fleet began a lengthy journey to San Francisco.

The Second Transport Fleet was ordered to allow the army in the Home Islands to continue its reorganization and light duties, being sent to the east coast of America instead. Once the Third Transport Fleet returned from America, it could serve shuttle duty between the Home Islands and India.

While a surprising number of officers in Tokyo busied themselves with nothing more than shuttling men and material from one end of the earth to another, the world's attention remained fixed on the Middle East. The Battle of Tabriz continued to rage, and even poorly supplied Russian forces were proving more than capable of dominating the civilian population in Turkey. The grand encirclement was stretched once more when Russian troops reached the southern shores of the Black Sea. But Tokyo had long been expecting this move, and Japanese bombers carefully secured in Turkish bunkers were finally put to use, maintaining the stranglehold on the Russian army in the Middle East.

And, to the south at least, that stranglehold was resulting in the rapid collapse of Russian positions. It appeared Baghdad might fall in a matter of weeks.

 

[unmerged(228389)]

This semester has been pretty busy for me. I probably could have advanced the story more, but so many battles are going on and Japan's logistics upkeep (shipping units across the globe semi-optimally) have become hard enough that I haven't wanted to start playing again since I need to be able to dedicate a chunk of time to getting back up to speed and not making silly mistakes while playing. Plus I need to do a little custom work getting America in order. Here's where that's at.

The borders of Gran Colombia:

(Yes, I know they're ugly. It's the best I could do with the provinces being what they are.)

The end of America... again!

(And for those who like fleet details, the Third Transport Fleet has just departed San Franciso for Nagasaki with another 10 divisions).

Re: Gran Colombia. I'm leaning towards finding an event that I can mod that will kick it out of my alliance & force peace with my enemies to create a neutral, syndicalist Colombia. (Reason: as unhappy with the election results as Japan is, and as worried as Japan is that's the end of free elections in Colombia, it won't do anything until Colombia PROVES that's the end of free elections.) This option will probably include me giving most of the Lesser Antilles & Puerto Rico to Gran Colombia over time.

Option 2: Declare war on Colombia! Re-annex & re-release it to punish the Totalist traitors!

Regarding America. I basically see two options. First: Further Balkanize America. In name if not in modding. Hmm. Perhaps another several governments. One along the southeastern seaboard. Let's say roughly the states of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Alabama. Another being the southwest: roughly the states of Texas (minus the Rio Grande), Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and most of Colorado. A third being the Ohio country plus-a-bit: Ohio, most of Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and West Virginia. A fourth being trans-Mississippi: Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Minnesota, most of Wyoming, and the Dakotas. A fifth being the Canadian Plains country plus Montana, then finally the-rest-of-Canada-minus-Quebec, plus Michigan.

Second: now that Co-Prosperity Spheres are Japan's primary doctrine, reunify America under the democratic New England government! The capital will be Boston, but I will surrender all of the former United States & Canada to the new American government. (Quebec will remain independent on nationalist grounds, but Japan will "encourage" Quebec to join up by ending puppet status, which will also end a considerable free subsidy to the Quebecois economy.)

Either way, the watersheds that empty into the Pacific will remain Japanese national territory. (California, Colombia River, Colorado & Green Rivers, etc.)

After Sunday, it may be a month or two before I look at this thread again. But I will check your comments when I finally get around to finishing this game, and if there is overwhelming opinion, put it into practice!

 

[tooichan]

Yes YES YES YES THANK YOU

 

[Gukpa]

I vote for the second Opnion,create the New States of America!

 

[SotV]

Great to have you back! And with a great update too!

And Havana is the new Rome? Is that actually in-game or just story fluff?

 

[unmerged(228389)]

Story fluff. KR, or at least my version, has no in-game way of representing what happens to the Vatican (if anything) after the Italian Federation is defeated. I just couldn't think of any other stable Catholic-dominated country that wasn't syndicalist-dominated, evil-colonialist-dominated, or in chaos in the disaster my KR timeline became.

@Gukpa
The New States of America
The New State of America? I like it.

 

[Gukpa]

The New states of america if keep the federative point of view of USA
The New state of america if follow the unitary point of view of the American Union State

 

[500Artichoke]

The encirclement MUST hold! It MUST! It IS! This is by far one of the most ridiculous maneuvers I've seen in DH, gotta say.

Good to have you back, as folks are saying. School is an excellent justification for any slowdown, speaking from personal experience, so it's not like anyone here should be... angry, or anything.

America... Ok, I've got a silly solution:

First, you can solve the Colombian problem and produce a new American nation by establishing The Confederacy of Col(u/o)mbia, which will incorporate the Deep South (North Carolina on down, and maybe Virginia) and, provided they restore democracy, Colombia. Hopefully, this acts as an offer the junta can't refuse. Besides, given the horror of war that's visited the American South, the two sides of the Caribbean might be evenly matched in terms of population/industry. Put the capital in... er... Miami? Or somewhere in Colombia to sweeten the deal?

Next up: we can handle a good portion of the Southwest and Mexico by creating The Grand Republic of Talamo - Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona (Japanese annexations permitting), and the northern third or so of Mexico. The capital, obviously, will be at the Alamo: a monument to a successful Mexican attack and a heroic Texan defense. Hopefully that will be confusing enough to give both sides some pride. :laugh: Oklahoma could be broken off story-wise as a Native reservation, undoing an American injustice.

New England can be given Virginia, if nobody else is picking it up. And maybe Ohio. Or that one province next to Ohio they don't already have.

The Great Lakes can't go to New England simply due to how unbalanced it would make that country, but the idea of a Great Lakes Confederacy is probably discredited. As such, with the precedent of the boundaries of colonial New France once extending as far south as the Ohio River Valley, give the Great Lakes to Quebec! Finally, they'll have the industry to utilize their resources.

Everything else in Canada and the United States can be collected under The Republic of Flyover Country: a union based on a shared heritage of... being uninteresting agrarian settlements. Maybe try to break off some Aboriginal reserves/nations? I'm sure the Metis up around Manitoba would like that, at the very least, especially since this world's authoritarian Canada probably treated them even worse.

The rest of Mexico and Central America is a tough one, owing to my lack of real knowledge about the area. Still, not knowing anything about a place didn't stop Europeans from drawing lines on a map before, and it won't stop me now. Panama should probably be directly administered by Japan. You could resurrect the United Provinces of Central America to create a regional semi-power. A rump Mexico could be built with the Mayan provinces of the southeast carved off and possibly added to the UPCA where they won't be as outnumbered by any particular nationality. That sounds like a plan.

...

Ok, very little of that was serious, but I'm sure there's an idea or two in there that actually makes sense!

 

[unmerged(228389)]

Awesome! I love it. Tempted to just go with "The Artichoke Plan". Historians will be discussing the positive ramifications and genius creation process for decades to come! Certainly the way the various Americas peel off the center, the svelte goodness if you will, resting on the backbone of fly-over country, is a perfect analogy to the divine fruit-vegetable thing. Let's put it on the flag(s)!

 

[SotV]

Isn't there an option somewhere for splitting Deseret off? That could take up a good portion of the West and give the Pacific regions a buffer.

 

[unmerged(228389)]

Not that I know of. If so, I'd take it.

 

[Nikolai]

It's time for a reunited North America.

 

[Kaiser_Mobius]

Reunify North America under New England's rule! You could probably call it the "Union States of America", not quite the old USA, (even though the initials would be the same), but you could also give it a different flag or something.

 

[Mkoll13]

I am in favor of balkanization into regional powers in north American!

 

[Kroisistan]

I think you should further Balkanize. Sure it's not strictly Co-Prosperity Sphere thought, but some countries are more advanced and enlightened than others. It seems clear that the former Americans do not have the right mentality to peacefully coexist as a powerful Co-Prosperity Sphere yet. Japan gave them peace and self-governance on tough but fair terms, this after a devastating civil war and the previous war with Japan, and within a decade they were fighting again! Is there even anyone left in the former USA old enough to hold a weapon anymore? More importantly, can Tokyo afford to find out by essentially recreating a whole USA? If they deserve to be their own Co-Prosperity Sphere, it should only happen after decades of peace and demonstrated rational governance.

Plus, are you really going to reward New England for what was essentially armed neutrality? Didn't they recently elect an anti-Japanese, revanchist party?

PS - very glad to see this back. It's great as always.

 

[hoi2geek]

I got an idea . . .

-the South (between the Ohio River and the Virginias and the state of Mississippi) should be reformed as a new Confederate States of America
-Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and whatever is left of Arizona (plus the Mexican states of Nuevo León, Chihuahua, and Tamaulipas) becomes the Union of the Rio Grande
-Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri(south of the Missouri River), Kansas, Nebraska, and whatever is left of Colorado becomes an independent Republic of Louisiane, to serve as both an independent homeland of the Cajuns, and as a loyal buffer between the URG and CSA. The new state will be viciously Gallicized (by force if need be).
-Quebec should gain the entire Great Lakes region, plus Minnesota and Iowa, and the rest of Missouri, as a just reward for their services to the Japanese in the Great Patriotic War (日本国民の大祖国戦争/Великая Отечественная Война Японского Народа). Like Louisiane, these areas are to be forcibly Gallicized
-the rest of the U.S. and Canada should be organized as the Confederation of the Plains
-the Mexican Empire should be re-established without its Pacific territories or those that will be ceded to the URG.
-Likewise (if it's possible) Deseret should be restored (either as independent or as an autonomous part of the Co-Prosperity Sphere). Either way, it is to serve as the ethno-religious homeland of the Mormons, and all non-Mormons are to either be expelled or forced to assimilate into the native Mormon culture and religion.

Now listen to this music, as we fully implement this plan.
[video=youtube;ixRUD7VgHac]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixRUD7VgHac[/video]

 

[blitzthedragon]

I thought there was some talk earlier about the Confederate States being off-limits or something? Then again, it's in the game code.

 

[hoi2geek]

I thought there was some talk earlier about the Confederate States being off-limits or something? Then again, it's in the game code.

There isn't anything banned about talking about the CSA.

What is banned is the display of Swastikas (since they're banned in Germany, as with all types of Nazi propaganda)