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No, I won't continue the attack. I was about to break them in Beiping for a short time though, but then they sent in reinforcements. In part 5, Japan will change strategy.
 
Part 4.3 - Other Things
Other Things
On the 10th of October, a new, better variant of submarine engines was created. Ten days later, the 10 Homengun HQ was formed in Tokyo. On the 22nd, the IJN got new sonars for their small warships. During the rest of October, the navy saw several more improvements to their light cruisers and smaller ships. On the 11th of November, survivors from Abyssinia finally returned to Japan. They had traveled through Madagascar, India, Burma, Siam, French Indochina, the Philipenes and Okinawa, before they finally arrived in Tokyo.

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On the 15th of November, heavy cruiser armoured was improved. On the 20th, the infantry part of the survivors began to be re-trained and re-equiped to a motorised unit. Meanwhile, the cavalry part was changed to a tank destroyer unit. The unit's leader, Maj general Honma, was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun for his bravery. Until the end of the month, there were no more major events, only some more improvements to the heavy cruisers were made.

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Important Positions:
Kwantung Theater, Chief of Army, Chief of Staff: Kanin Kotohito
Kwantung Army: Aizawa Takase
China Front: Tojo
Kita-Shina Homengun: Abe
2 Kita-Shina Homengun: Watana
1st Armoured Division: Ochi Yuuichi
1st Marine Division: Tanaka
16 Gundan: Kawagishi
Moukogo Gun: Yamada
 
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The next part will be a little bit different than the ones before. Hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it! :)
 
Part 5 - The Planning
Part 5

The planning - Kanin's HQ in Dalian, Some minutes after midnight, 1st of December
Around the table sat: Field Marshal Tojo, commander of the China Front, General Abe, commander of the Kita-Shina Homengun, General Watana, leader of the 2 Kita-Shina Homengun, Maj. General Ochi Yuuichi, leader of Japan's only armoured division and, of course, the Chief of the Army himself.
Kanin Kotohito - "Welcome officers! I think you might already have guessed why we are all gathered here, but I will still explain so there's no misunderstanding. During the last months we have been attacking the Chinese defenses in the cities of Tianjin and Beiping, without much progress. While doing so, we have also lost thousands of soldiers and not gained any territory. Neither have we got ourselves a strategicaly strong position, as our marines failed to influence the battle for Tianjin and our forces in the northwest have been stopped in the province of Fengchen. Now the marines are in a lack of supplies and if it wasn't for the great command of Maj. general Tanaka, they had probably been defeated at this point. Could you please give me your suggestions on how to solve the current situation?"
Tojo - "I would argue for a naval assault on the ports of Weihai and Qingdao with the marines. When the ports have been secured, we will transport other units there and advance out from the bridgeheads, to create a fontline on the Shandong peninsula."
Kanin - "That could be a good idea, but what divisions do you think are available for such an operation?"
Tojo - "We could maybe use some forces from the Kwantung Army and from the home defence."
Abe - "Don't we need a few more units than that?"
Watana - "Yes, I think so too. Can't we just wait until the new divisons are completed?"
Kanin - "The problem is that they won't be done before early February."
Abe - "Is the time against us in any way? Do we need to hurry?"
Kanin - "Not really, but every hour we wait, they get an hour more of preparations for something they might plan."
Watana - "We could maybe do it with the few available forces if they got a large amount of air support and also a misleading maneuver."
Ochi - "My division could be the spearhead in such an attack, somewhere like west of Fengchen."
Kanin - "If we were to do a naval invasion, your unit would be needed for the breakout of the bridgehead."
Ochi - "Isn't a marine corps and some infantry divisions enough to perform the invasion?"
Kanin - "Remember that the goal is to open up another front on the Shandong peninsula and not just perform the invasion."
Tojo - "It would help us out very much if we could evacuate Maj. general Tanaka and his forces from Jinghai."
Kanin - "Unfortunately, that isn't possible as they are under constant attack by the Chinese and the province lacks a port."
Watana - "Why don't we just send more units to the already existing bridgehead in Jinghai?"
Tojo - "Because without a port, we are unable to supply even the smallest force. Tanaka's 5000 marines can't get ammunition and food from us, they have to get it themselves, so how should we supply an even bigger force there?"
Watana - "Do you mean that we have sent some of our best forces to a certain death?!!"
Tojo - "Unfortunately, yes. It seemed like a good idea when we did it, as we thought it would change the course of the battle in Tianjin, but when it didn't, the unit got into the position where it is now."
Kanin - "I think I have an idea!"
Kanin grabbed a pencil and a map over the theater of war. He quickly made some arrows and symbols on the map and then showed it for the others.

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Kanin - "As we don't have a lot of assault ships, we can only attack with one division at a time, so we have to split the operation up in different phases. First, one marine division will attack the port in Weihai on the eastern tip of the peninsula. After that, the assault ships will quickly return to a port in Korea to load on another marine division and meanwhile, our transport ships will transport forces to reinforce the soldiers in Weihai. The second marine division will seize the port of Qingdao, on the peninsula's southern coast. If the forces then were to face heavy resistance, we could send in the armoured division.

For the operation we will need all units you can spare, my generals. We could also probably use troops from the home defence and the Kwantung Army, as Field Marshal Tojo suggested. To support this army, naval bombardment will be given by the navy and the airforce will send bombers. What do you think, generals?"

Tojo - "I would say that's a good plan, but who would lead the army?"
Kanin - "My suggestion is that you all return to your HQ's and consider who you think would be the best candidate for that command. When we meet next time, we can plan the details. Good night generals."
When Kanin went to sleep though, he had a feeling that the operation wouldn't occur anytime soon. He didn't know how right he was.
 
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Part 5.2 - Tianjin and Beiping, Jinghai and The War in the West
Tianjin and Beiping - The End of a Slaughter
Some hours after the meeting in Kanin's HQ, Abe and Watana ordered a withdrawal from Tianjin. The losses were: 15.700 of the Japanese 80.800 men and 23.800 of the Chinese 198.400 soldiers. The battle had been a disaster for the Imperial Japanese Army.

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Around midnight between the 1st and 2nd of December, the forces in Beiping broke through the enemy lines, but they were stopped by the Chinese before the 3rd. The position was actually quite bad for the Chinese in Beiping and it was only because of Zhou Tiren's masterful defence they didnt break through. The snipers and the ambushes, slowly but surely wore out the Japanese. Late in the evening of the 19th of December, Zhou delayed another attack and because of that, Abe finally decided to withdraw his soldiers from Beiping. The casaulties were: 10.900 of 69.200 men on the Japanese side and 25.000 of 255.100 on the enemy side. Both of the cities had been totally destroyed after months of battles. The houses lay in ruins and smoke rose to the sky.

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Just a few hours after the withdrawal, a Chinese infantry division launched a counterattack on the Japanese in Jixian, northeast of Beiping. The attackers quickly lost 183 men and the Japanese only a single soldier. Another attempt was made, but the Chinese just lost more men, while their enemies lost none at all. On the 22nd, the 21 Homengun had finally arrived from the north, so Tojo ordered a reorganisation of his army group. The 1 Homengun was put under Watana's command and thus he now controled the southeastern part of the front, while Abe led the more western parts. Abe got the 21 Homengun under his command as replacement for the corps that was given away. The HQ of the Kita-Shina Homengun was also re-deployed to the west. During the rest of the month, the Tianjin-Beiping sector was calm. The slaughters in the two cities had given Japan one good thing though, a lot of their generals were now experienced in urban combat.


Jinghai - Tanaka's Heroes
At midday on the 1st of December, another attack on Tanaka's division began. A few hours before, the Maj. general had got a message from Kanin Kotohito. The text said "Your orders are to continue holding out, just like before. It's impossible to evacuate your forces without a port in the area, but don't give up, we will get you out of there in some way.". On the 2nd of December, Tanaka launched a counterattack and fended off the enemy attack. The Chinese attacked again the following day, but were once again pushed back by a counterattack. Fighting began again on the 6th, but the marines ambushed their enemies at several positions and prevented further advance. On the 7th, Tanaka defeated one more attack with an elastic defence. He knew that he and his forces were left on their own and thus continued fighting with seemingly endless energy. Slowly but surely, the attacking forces became weaker and weaker, as they attacked again and again. On the 10th, Lt. general Hao mengling, commander of the 2nd Chinese Corps, took command over the attacking forces.

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Until the 24th, there were no major changes in the battle. On Christmas Eve, Maj. general Liao Lingqi became the new commander in the area. In the evening on Christmas Day, a new attack was launched in Jinghai. Twelve hours into the attack, a counterattack was ordered by Tanaka. The fighting lasted for several days before the Chinese were pushed back once again. In the High Command, the marine division had got the nickname "Tanaka's Heroes". For the marines, the new year began with an ambush on a small scout force.


The War in the West - Resistance in Fengchen

On the 1st of December, a general named Rymakov replaced Rudin as commander in Fengchen. Why is unknown, as the Maj. general was defending his positions very well against the attacking Japanese soldiers. Rymakov delayed an assault for two days, but he was very soon replaced by Maj. general Yuan Pu. Only a few days later he was replaced too. His successor was Maj. general Ji Zhangjian. Why couldn't Rudin just have kept the command? An assault was finally launched in the province on the 7th and would continue until the 10th. On the 10th though, Zhanghjian delayed further attacks until a week later. The next attack lasted for two days, before the Chinese "Mosquitos" began working again. Everything was calm between the 22nd and the 28th. On the 30th, the Chinese command in Fengchen changed again. The new leader was Maj. general Xu Shiyou, a very experienced commander. The beginning of the new year in Fengchen was spent attacking for the Japanese and counterattacking for the Chinese.


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Still a bloody stalemate and the invasions havent broken the enemy lines as I hoped they would be able to. I wonder what your next move will be, since it appears the whole war ground to a halt.
 
Sorry if I didn't make that clear, but I haven't launched the naval invasion yet. Hopefully I will be able to do it in January and if I don't, then I will do it in February, with the new infantry divisions. (This means it will probably happen in part 6)
 
My bad i didnt reas it properly, saw marines and thought invasion. Well on that case i hope you have enough marines standing by to deal a decisive blow to the enemy rear amd grlet the war mobile again.

Have to say i am impreased with what the mod did with this war, its a real grind
 
I noticed that I've put two pictures at wrong places in the text. Fixed now.
 
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I somehow forgot to upload a "sub-part" to part 4 :confused:, so I edited it in now. It's called Two "new fronts". I will try to make sure nothing like that happens again :oops:.
 
Part 5.3 - The Battle for the Western Ruyuku Sea, and Other Things
Okinawa - The struggle for Western Ruyuku Sea
The Chinese continued storming the Japanese defenses in Naha on the 3rd of December, but Matsui repelled attack after attack. Nothing special happened at Okinawa before the 13th, when a Chinese fleet of warships was spotted in the Western Ruyuku Sea. The Chief of the IJN, Osumi Mineo, immidiately ordered Commander Kakuta, leader of the 24 Kaigun, and his five destroyers to intercept the enemy ships. The Japanese arrived in the afternoon on the 14th and then it was clear that Chinese had been underestimated. The Chinese fleet consisted of a heavy cruiser, seven light cruisers and two destroyers.

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The group from the IJN got reinforced by five nearby submarines though. The submarines had been on a convoy raiding mission and rushed to aid the destroyers when the battle began. The Chinese fleet was commanded by Admiral Chen Shaokuan, who had more experience than his Japanese counterpart. Several Chinese ships took a beating early on, mostly from the submarines, but after some hours of combat, a Japanese destroyer had to withdraw and two other were starting to take damage. After twelve hours more of fighting, only a few enemy ships could still fight, but two Japanese destroyers and a submarine had taken serious damage.

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In the evening of the 15th, the IJN had the upper hand and in the morning the following day, their enemies withdrew from the area. No ships had been lost on either sider. The submarines docked in the harbour of Naha to repair and the destroyers returned to Japan. When Chinese ships were spotted in the Western Ruyku Sea again on the 17th, a new force was ordered to intercept them. This force consisted of Commander Ootake Shizuki's three destroyers and Vice Admiral Osami's four battleships, Fuso, Ise, Yamashiro and Hyuga. The destroyers arrived around a few hours before midnight on the 18th and faced the same fleet as Katuka had fought three days earlier. The Chinese ships had returned despite the damaged caused to their ships in the latest battle.

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A Japanese destroyer was quickly overwhelmed by the Chinese firepower, but the others fought on. In the morning of the 19th, several other battlegroups of the IJN were ordered to the area, but only the battleships of Vice Admiral Osami arrived in time to help the destroyers. In early afternoon, the battle ended. Both sides had lost a destroyer each. Ten hours after the Japanese victory, the enemy troops on Okinawa abandoned the invasion and were evacuated. The local garrison had lost 221 men and the invaders ca 3800. The Chinese were stubborn though, as they returned and invaded again, with the same division, when the Japanese ships returned to Japan. The invaders finally established a strong position in Naha on at midnight on the 23rd, after three days of constant fighting. This battle would continue exactly like the earlier one. Nothing special happened before New Years Eve and the first hour of the new year on Okinawa was spent fighting with a low level of activity.



Other Things
On the 1st of December, the Republicans in Spain had been pushed back everywhere. There was a small resistance pocket on the Portugese border and another one east of Gibraltar, but those had very small chances of defending themselves. Madrid was controled by the Nationalists, so the Republican capital had been relocated to Barcelona. North of the new capital, people were rioting. Forces in the north were being pushed towards the sea. The only strong position the Republican army had established was on the eastern coast. Hirohito didn't know where the Japanese volunteers were, but as the Nationalists had the upper hand, he expected them to survive the war.

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On the 4th of December, better medium anti-aircraft armament for ships was improved. On the same day, a collaboration government was created in the occupied parts of Shanxi. The convoy raiding continued like normal, except from when a few submarines joined the battle for Western Ruyku Sea. On the 22nd, damage control systems for cruisers were improved and two days later, the fire control system saw improvements too. The last days of the year passed without anything of importance happening.

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Important Positions:
Kwantung Theater, Chief of Army, Chief of Staff: Kanin Kotohito
China Front: Tojo
Kwantung Army: Aizawa Takase
Kita-Shina Homengun: Abe
2 Kita-Shina Homengun: Watana
1st Armoured Division: Ochi Yuuichi
1st Marine Division: Tanaka
Okinawa Garrison: Matsui
 
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Chinese attacking mainland Japan, shame on the navy! I demand heads on spikes for this atrocity! Where are the fleets of imperial battleships and carriers!
Did they actually land though, or is the fighting still ongoing?

Also, why does China still have ships, this long into the war. The first thing I always do as Japan (granted, in normal TFH) is use my airforce and aircraft carriers to sink all enemy ships in port, then blockade them.
 
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The Chinese are still attacking, but their organisation is very low and they can't win the battle for Naha (a province on Okinawa). It would probably be a good idea to sink their ships in port, have been too busy with the battles on land to think about that. I would also say that I'm not the most experienced Hearts of Iron player, despite having owned all the games for some time. All strategy tips are appreciated. :)
 
New parts won't come as frequent as before, just so you know. They will now probably come every weekend (1 or 2 each weekend).
 
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It doesnt look like a headon breakthrough in the north is possible, so i believe it is time to follow SunTzu's advice. Avoid the enemy where he is strong and hit him where he is weak.

The Chinese army is strong in the north so it should be weak in the east and south. I would suggest sending the fleet, carriers first to blockade and sink the enemy ships in port, then battleships to provide support to an army of marines landing on the east coast and set up a large perimeter. Heck, maybe a second major landing in the south, that will really force them to spread out and if you land on 2 places you can try to surround the enemy in between them.
This forces the chinese to react and might draw enough enemies from the north to allow that front to resume attacking.
 
Entire part 6 will, unfortunately, not be very eventful. We will sink an important Chinese ship though.... The invasion is already planned and will start in part 7, because it took some time to gather the forces at the right positions in part 6.
 
Part 6 - The Second Meeting, and The Sinking of Hai Chi
Part 6

The Second Meeting, Kanin's HQ in Dalian, some minutes after midnight the 1st of January.
Around the table sat: Field Marshal Tojo, General Abe, General Watana, Maj. general Ochi Yuuichi and the Chief of the Army, Kanin Kotohito.
Kanin - "Hello and welcome back generals! I know it's a month since we were last gathered here, but I've had a lot of work to do, so there's not been much time for me to organise a meeting for us. At least we are all here now. I would like to hear who you think would be the best commander of the invasion force. Could we start with you, Field Marshal?"
Tojo - "I suggest Maj. general Nagata, commander of the 17th infantry division. I think that he has absolutely everything that's required for this command. It's a big step from division level to army level, but I think he can handle it."
Kanin - "Thank you, Field marshal. Who do you suggest, General Abe?"
Abe - "I think that Lt. general Adachi, not assigned to any unit at the moment, is the best choice. That is because of his great skill in innovation and experimental strategies, which could be useful now when old strategies doesn't seem to work, if you understand what I mean. He has also been awarded The Order of The Rising Sun."
Kanin - "Thank you, General. General Watana?"
Watana - "I do also think that Maj. general Nagata is a very good choice, because of the same reason as Field marshal Tojo."
Kanin - "And then it's you, Maj. general."
Ochi - "I've been a close friend to Maj. general Nagata since we both started our military careers, around the same time. Thus I know him very well and think that he is well suited for the mission."
Kanin - "Well, then it's decided. Nagata will be promoted to general and lead the invasion force. This was easier than i thought it would be."
Tojo - "Should we start planning a little bit more in detail then?"
Kanin - "I think it's best to let me, Nagata and his staff to plan the details of the operation. Maj. general Ochi will get to say his part about the role of the armoured division though, because it could be needed in the operation. I think you others should plan for your own forces. Then I will end this short meeting, if no one has anything more to say of course?"
As no one said anything, the meeting ended. This time though, units began to be gathered into the new army.


Start of preparations
Lt. general Ando R. and his 5 Homengun (one of Japan's "mobile corps") was ordered to P'yongyang in Korea, to become one of the units in the "Special Operation Force". The second candidate for the command of the army, Lt. general Adachi, was chosen to lead the newly established 23 Homengun. The corps was made up by the 8th, 9th, 51st and 52nd infantry divisions and the 8th light division (light infantry), gathered from the Kwantung army, the Korean garrison and the China Front. Meanwhile, the 1st Marine Corps was transported to Pusan in southern Korea, to then continue to Suwon, a province south of Inch'on. The preparations were finally underway, but it would take until the beginning of February until they were completed. After that though, the forces would be ready to launch the operation.


Tianjin and Beiping - "The Calm After The Storm"

On the 1st of January, all of the Chinese forces in Tianjin launched an attack on the Japanese forces in Tangshan, the area to the east of the city. At least that was what the Japanese intelligence network reported, but the attackers were actually only a few thousand men. The battle was a total disaster for the attackers: 3243 casualties for them and 87 for their enemies. The local Imperial forces had performed two very successful counterattacks and pushed back the Chinese after five days.

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Also during the beginning of the month, Manchurian forces launched an operation against partisans in their territory. On the 14th, partisans led by a man called Ho Chiminh, attacked Tojo's HQ in Huludao. The local garrison forces were enough to push the partisans back though, as they were heavily outnumbered. The battle ended on the 22nd with 589 Japanese and Manchurian losses and 590 losses for the partisans.

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On the 17th, another attack on Tangshan was defeated. The casualties were 10 for the Imperial Army and 91 for the Chinese. For the rest of January, nothing special happened in the sector and could be described as "The Calm After The Storm".


The War In The West - Lack of Progress

The assault in Fengchen that was launched before New Years Eve, continued on the 1st of January, but ended in the morning the day after. A new attack was launched in the evening, but was met by a counterattack. In the morning of the 4th, it was calm again, but in the evening, another assault began. It was met by a counterattack this time too. The Chinese held their ground, despite the Japanese having 113k soldiers against their almost 60 000. Throughout the month several attacks were made in Fengchen, but without progress.

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Jinghai - Stubborn Resistance

The only thing to say about Jinghai during the period is that the resistance of the marines was stubborn and that they refused to give up. Tanaka continued to fight with his seemingly endless energy and held his ground, despite having a lack of supplies.


Okinawa - The Sinking of Hai Chi

The naval invasion of Okinawa continued like normal and every time the Chinese were pushed away from the Island, they quickly returned and attacked again. There would be several battles for the Western Ruyku sea though and the core of China's fleet would lay on the bottom of the sea there in the end of the month. In the morning of the 23rd, a fleet consisting of four battleships, the two light carriers Ryujo and Hosho, four heavy cruisers, six light cruisers, seven destroyers and a seaplane tender, was gathered in Hiroshima. The fleet was led by Admiral Nakamura and it's task was to once and for all crush the Chinese fleet in the Western Ruyuku sea.

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The ships arrived in the afternoon on the 26th and massively outnumbered their enemies. The Chinese had only a few light cruisers, a heavy cruiser and a destroyer. The battle began a bombardment from three of the Japanese battleships and an hour later, a heavy cruiser and aircrafts from Ryujo joined in. Not too long after, also aircrafts from Hosho appeared in the skies. The Chinese lost four of their light cruisers in a few hours, before they retreated two hours after midnight, on the 27th.

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On the 28th, Nakamura was attacked by the remainders of the enemy ships. One of those was the flagship of the Chinese fleet, the heavy cruiser Hai Chi. It was sunk by the battleship Ise. The core of the enemy fleet was now destroyed and Nakamura's ships would soon start harassing their ports. For the time being though, the ships returned to Hiroshima to be repaired.

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A destroyer and two torpedo boats were re-deployed to Okinawa to patrol the area and attack unprotected assault ships.


Other Things

In the beginning of the month, armament factories were built in Nagoya, Akita, Susaki, P'yongyang and Niigata. The Capital ships recieved better damage control systems and political indoctrination was increased in the in The Imperial Army. On the 1st of February, almost all the preparations for the operation had been completed. Only the 1st Marine Corps was still re-deploying to Suwon. Enough divisions for a new army were only a few days from having finished their training.

(I don't know why, but I've noticed that the Chinese can use passenger ships for invasions, while I couldn't when I tried last.)
 
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The enemy fleet is finally getting what should be coming to them, but the army still seem to be in a bloody stalemate. Maybe once the seas are secure a more large-scale invasion can tip the balance in Japan's favour.
 
Don't worry, the invasion is going quite well and in part 7, you will get to see what I mean.