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2000 December 19th 1947.
East Asia Army Headquarters. Chita, Soviet Union.

The situation was similar for all of Japan's advancing armies as they encountered sporadic resistance as Soviet troops deployed in their paths. Terauchi would also have to deal with such events.​

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Only one division had arrived in Ulan-Ude so far which was no real threat but enough of these encounters could cripple his army's organisation and force a long march backwards if it faced a moderate enemy force.​

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The Tactical bombers, this time led by Lt. General Sakai, provided some intelligence for Terauchi as they arrived to destroy the retreating enemy in Ulan-Ude. There was an enemy army in Kyzyl, the only province belonging to Tannu Tuva. Half of the troops appeared to be marching towards Ulan-Ude with the remainder dug in.​





1200 December 20th 1947.
BB Division 1 Flagship. IJN Yamashiro, East Somali Basin.

Ozawa continued his patrol around the Arabian Sea and encountered another enemy fleet as he moved into the East Somali Basin.​

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The single Transport Division had no hope of escaping and would sink to an unknown shell within an hour of being sighted.​

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A report from Tanaka's Interceptor wing operating from Colombo gave Ozawa some room for thought as it was unlikely that the Brazilian Airforce would operate close to Ceylon if there were no plans to invade the island. It could just be coincidence and it would take something pretty major to actually threaten the island now. Ozawa resisted the temptation to sail towards the Gulf of Mannar with BB Division 1 as there were four Naval bomber squadrons as well as all of Japan's Aircraft Carriers in Colombo should the need arise. Tanaka would chase the attacking Brazilians away with minimal losses to his own air wing.​





0600 December 21st 1947.
Central Asia Army Headquarters. Ashgabat, Soviet Union.

The more reports Hata received from the Middle East the less he liked what appeared to be happening. The Lebanese Army alone was large enough to force a withdraw but there were increasing signs of Allied troops mustering in the region.​

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Obata's latest air raid over Beirut had spotted at least two more British controlled divisions arriving in Haifa. The air raid would not be very successful as the two divisions in Beirut had been digging in. The Allied troops could be redeploying to Haifa or being shipped to the region, either way their numbers seemed to be increasing.​

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To the east things were progressing very well as Okada arrived in Samarkand and continued on towards Tashkent, which was the first resource objective in the area. There were still no signs of a Soviet reaction to this latest thrust by Japanese forces.​





0800 December 22nd 1947.
Imperial Japanese Airforce Offices. Tokyo, Japan.

The situation in China had reversed quickly and Jun saw no reason to leave two of his strike groups operating around Lanzhou as there were no longer enough targets for one group let alone two.​

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He ordered Shimoyama to fly to Singapore where he would commence Naval patrols of the Malacca Strait after a brief rest period. Jun was effectively relegating Shimoyama's air group to a rapid response reserve roll and had placed it centrally to allow it the chance to move anywhere without becoming totally dis-organised during the transit. Dive bombers were becoming less useful as the Imperial Japanese Army advanced out of their range which would leave the Tactical bombers to support offensive operations for the time being. Jun would re-evaluate the situation as and when new airbases became available.​
 
...
This AAR is already a lot larger than I expected it to be, but then again I also expected to be finished by now :)

...

To be finished? (not to finish).
When did you expect it would end? Who would give you fatal blow: US fleet, Soviet offensive into Manchuria while you were fighting in Burma?
 
It is rather impressive your hnging on. Of course if the AI could use nukes.....
 
i know its kinda useless at this point but are you planning on building any newer battleships in the future? Carrier's seem to be a dying breed as most of yours are level 2's. Also what is your current production? I kept up until the bombers and escorts finished.
 
zdlugasz - I had expected a Soviet DoW at least year earlier that it actually happened. Had that been the case then I couldn't have captured India as I would have had to defend China. I sunk most of the Allied Transports around Burma which would not have happened otherwise which would have allowed them to invade my islands a lot easier. I was also allowed to use my bombers to sink a lot of the Allied Navies which I would again not have been able to do with a Soviet DoW. I would have expected the USN to have provided the knock out blow with invasions eventually, although I would still have expected to survive for a few years.

Lord Strange - If the AI was allowed to nuke then so could I. I aim nukes a lot better than the AI which would probably be to my benefit in the long run.

genbrad - I have no plans for more Battleships. I am building Battlecruisers though as they are quicker and cheaper (Ok I am building them for flavour :) ). My builds will be in the annual update which will be after this last one for December.

Update to follow ...
 
Operation Lynchpin
9





1700 December 24th 1947.
Central Asia Army Headquarters. Ashgabat, Soviet Union.

The time had arrived for another attempted advance in the Kaukasus mountains as Lt. General Honda's troops had recovered enough.​

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The single Militia division in Makhachkala would retreat shortly after the Japanese bombers arrived in support.​





1700 December 24th 1947.
BB Division 1 Flagship. IJN Yamashiro, Gulf of Halaniyat.

In order to minimise his fleets exposure to possible bomber attacks Ozawa had decided to operate out of air cover for only a short period of time. A large loop patrol pattern should limit any possible attacks by both air and sea forces.​

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BB Division 1 would sail around the Arabian Sea with most contacts likely to be in the south of the patrol route. Ozawa could send damaged ships back to Ahmadabad on the northern part of the loop as well as increase his fleets size as ships repaired.

Six hours later he nearly altered his plans in response to an American invasion.​

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Colombo was the target of the amphibious assault as was normal in this part of the World. Ozawa had no idea if the invasion was supported or not but there was no shore bombardment so far. He ordered the still repairing Naval bombers to investigate and also gave orders for his Carrier Groups to prepare for sea.​

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By 0100 on December 25th Genda had begun to attack a single Transport Division and he was soon joined by Ichimaru as they finished off this part of the invasion force. The assault was called off after half of the invading force had been wiped out with the Naval bombers finding the second half shortly afterwards. The second Transport Division would escape but it would lose its escorting Destroyers.​

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At 2200 hours BB Division 1 was again in combat as a small Anti-Submarine fleet was detected in the East Gulf of Aden. Both Destroyer Flotillas would be sunk, one by IJN Fuso and the other by IJN Yamashiro. Unfortunately one of the Destroyer Flotillas had managed to get close enough to torpedo IJN Yamashiro which would need several weeks of repairs as a result.​





0100 December 26th 1947.
East Asia Army Headquarters. Ulan-Ude, Soviet Union.

Terauchi had completed his move forwards into Ulan-Ude and fought off a minor counter attack from Kyzyl. Other troops had arrived to increase the East Asia Army's strength and they were soon given their marching orders.​

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Lt. General Sumida had arrived in Chita after a fairly short redeployment and began to advance north towards Barguzin. Japanese forces on either flank could provide support if required as they too advanced. Terauchi decided to allow almost all of his own Army in Ulan-Ude to rest and took on the task of capturing Irkutsk alone with his Headquarters. The enemy force in Kyzyl was large enough to force all five of his divisions to withdraw after another long march and he did not wish to weaken them all in such a fashion.

He would instead take a riskier option and allow his Headquarters to be forced to withdraw as he ordered troops to redeploy to Irkutsk. It would still take over a month for his own advance and the Japanese Airforce could weaken the enemy during that time.​

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To the south elements of the North China Army occupied Ulan Bator which would help Mengkukuo considerably once it had recovered its Industrial Capacity. These troops did not pause and continued on towards Muren to the west. Further south still General Kataoka had captured Bayan Hongor and was moving west towards Yusun Bulag. None of these advances would be quick.​





0600 December 26th 1947.
Central Asia Army Headquarters. Ashgabat, Soviet Union.

The situation in Iraq continued to deteriorate as Obata was frequently called north to assist with the advance through the Kaukasus mountains.​

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Two Lebanese divisions had captured Mosul and its Oilfields which led to Obata paying them a visit. British forces were also advancing towards Karbala in the south.​
 
1600 December 26th 1947.
North China Army Headquarters. Lanzhou, China.

Progress for Higashikuni had been slow and steady with few interruptions by redeploying Soviet troops. A couple of enemy divisions had tried to halt his progress but had quickly been dealt with by Japanese Dive bombers from Lanzhou.​

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In addition to the capture of Yushu Japanese troops had re-taken Xining, Jinchang and Yinchuan. Sugiyama would rest in Jinchang and the Japanese troops in Xining would halt their advance towards Golmud and wait for the Siamese Mountaineers to take it before redeploying forwards. Chandra Bose advanced towards Bayan Nur after capturing Yinchuan.​





0500 December 28th 1947.
The Skies Above the Nine Degree Channel.

Ichimaru and Genda had remained on patrol after the failed invasion and had found another fleet trying to move towards the Gulf of Mannar.​

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The British Submarine fleet that had been engaged earlier by BB Division 1 was the new contact and the bombers managed to sink one of the flotillas by 0700 hours on December 29th.​





0900 December 28th 1947.
Central Asia Army Headquarters. Ashgabat, Soviet Union.

While things were not going very smoothly in Iraq and its border States progress was rapidly being made in the east of Hata's front.​

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Okada had already arrived in Tashkent and was ordered to advance again as there was still no response from the Red Army. The Rare Material rich province of Zhambyl would be his new target.​

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Hata had not thought the problems in Iraq could worsen but they did at 1500 hours when he received the latest report from Obata and his bombers. Obata had managed to destroy the division in Ar-Ruwayshid but a large British army had appeared in the adjacent province of Amman. Seven divisions had been spotted in this province alone and there were more landing to the north in Haifa. Closer investigation revealed that these troops were of varying quality and none were in fact British in origin.​

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The Royal Air Force joined in on December 29th as it tried to bomb Hilla in central Iraq. Only Watanabe would manage to intercept the bombers as Fukudome patrolled to the west. Both wings in the dogfight would suffer casualties but the bombers would fare the worse by far as they had been caught during their bombing run when they were most vunerable.​

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Hata's Infantry force arrived in Samarkand at 1400 hours on December 29th which allowed him to order more advances to secure a large area to his east. Yokoyama Ise's corps would head through Tashkent to follow the Armour with Ushijima Mitsuru taking the southern approach thorugh the mountains towards Osh. To the north Iida headed for Chimkent with Kuribayashi moving towards Kzyl-Orda. The plan looked sound for almost five hours when it would need to be modified.​

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Okada's Armour finally encountered an enemy division as it approached Zhambyl. He halted his advance immediately to try and hold Tashkent but that possibility vanished when three more Soviet divisions arrived at 2100 hours. Okada would withdraw back to Samarkand as Hata re-thought his lines of advance in response.​





0300 December 30th 1947.
North China Army Headquarters. Lanzhou, China.

The New Year was less than twenty four hours away when Higashikuni received news of another successful advance by forces under his control.​

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Huntrakool and his specialised Mountain troops had captured the frozen marshes of Golmud and he was ordered to march north towards Dunhuang. Six Japanese divisions began to redeploy to Golmud from Xining to the east as two more divisions arrived behind the Mountaineers in Yushu province. The North China Army was still some distance away from it's primary objective in Urumqi but it was making progress.​
 
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How nice. As a belated Christmas gift the Soviets and the British have finally come out to play (though the British probably feel weak without enough tea, so they sent their puppets and friends to do the playing).

Remble said:
Seven divisions had been spotted in this province alone and there were more landing to the north in Haifa. Closer investigation revealed that these troops were of varying quality and none were in fact British in origin.

I find this bit rather charming. I imagine, how Obata's original report must have sounded.

"By analyzing the bits and pieces stuck to our planes and the swearing we could understand amid the explosion of our bombs, we have concluded that the enemy force in Amman consists of the following division:"


I'm looking forward to the annual update. :)
 
Capturing Stalinabad might give you a nice little bragging bonus since it contains "Stalin".

I was surprised to see a big blue circle in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

All this drawing it out is giving me a rash.

I recommend using cream for that.
 
The thousand useless puppets of the British Empire descend upon you......
 
For your question, I recommend a pharmacy.

Britain has no useless puppets. All of them own!

All of them do own the failure of stopping the Japanese. I will give you that.
 
All of them do own the failure of stopping the Japanese. I will give you that.

The problem with the usefulness of the British puppets is that it's a two edged sword: while they provide cannonfodder to be fed to the Japanese instead of the detsaidrated* British troops, they also provide ample target practice to the Japanese.

So it's the usual dilemma. To paraphrase a Brit who still had access to his daily amount of tea:

To send or not to send, that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler from lack of tea to suffer
then slings and arrows of Japanese fortune,
Or to send men against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing, end their suffering soon?


*"tsai" is Greek for "tea", as "hydro" is Greek for "water".
 
I post very rarely but I have to say that I have enjoyed this AAR for a very long time and occasionally I like to say so.

Also on the topic of the lack of tea...

The funny thing about this is, I work in the defense industry and when making a specification for most vehicles that will be used by the british in combat, you will never ever find any requirements regarding the need for any device to heat water to make tea with... but God help you if you don't put one in becasue they will be very upset with you, and you will have to add one, at great cost. I know this from experiance. :p

Felk