Update (January 1st 1948)
Part II
0000 January 1st 1948.
Imperial Palace. Tokyo, Japan.
"Welcome back your Majesty, Gentlemen. We will continue the annual meeting with an Industry report." Hideki restarted the meeting.
"Good morning your Majesty, Gentlemen." Ginjiro began. "Our production remains limited but we are managing to control our resource levels in most cases."
"Factory output has increased by two complexes during the last month and by a total of seven during 1947. A relatively small increase but it should hopefully begin to grow at a faster rate as we conquer parts of the Soviet Union. Unfortunately most of the larger Soviet factory facilities are still some distance away from our lines of advance. Transport Capacity remains heavily overloaded and is likely to remain so as troops continue to redeploy both from defensive positions and around the front lines. As Minister Hakujiro stated earlier partisan levels are steadily increasing placing an extra burden on our transport system.
My main concern with stockpiles is Supplies but that has been corrected somewhat by cancelling our trade agreements with Venezuela that were adding a large burden on our production. Energy reserves dropped by only 400 tonnes in the last year, Metal increased by 4,000 tonnes, Rare materials increased by 2,000 tonnes, Oil increased 6,000 tonnes, Supplies dropped by 7,000 tonnes, Money reserves increased by 800 and Manpower decreased by 4. In short our reserves are stable despite the loss of Venezuelan Oil.
Convoys are adequate for our needs for the time being and I should not need to build more as losses have also dropped as enemy naval activity has decreased.
Reinforcement requirements are small and are mostly for low manpower forces such as ships and aircraft. Losses are relatively minor on a daily basis as the bulk of ground combat has been concluded with the Soviets with no major battles for some time. There may come a time when this could increase again as we slowly squeeze the remaining Red Army troops into a smaller area of their Country.
Current Production is as follows:
2 x Battlecruisers - Next due July 14th 1948.
2 x Aircraft Carriers - Next due March 15th 1948.
2 x Carrier Air Groups - Due May 3rd 1948.
4 x Tactical Bomber Squadrons - Next due February 6th 1948.
4 x Escort Fighter Squadrons - Next due February 26th 1948.
The late start to the construction of Carrier Air Groups, which has only just begun, will delay the availability of the two new Carriers unless we transfer from our older Carriers to the new ones. The Fighter Escorts for our Tactical bombers should arrive as the bombers complete their re-organisation."
"I doubt that we shall need to transfer Carrier Air Groups and I will probably just wait for the new ones to arrive." Osami said. "The Carriers are still badly out-matched until we complete more research so there is no hurry."
"That is fine with me." Ginjiro continued. "1948 will continue to be a balancing act with our resources to maintain full production but the pressure could ease very quickly if we make large ground advances in Russia to capture some of their reserves. Manpower will be the biggest problem as far as I can see and is the main limiting factor to our Armed Forces growth and our inability to stabalise the partisan problems. Should our losses remain low I should be able to begin the raising of a small number of Garrison divisions in the Spring but it is likely to take years before we can even control the current unrest, let alone more."
"Begin the Garrisons as soon as the latest Infantry research completes sometime in February. Even if it is only one at a time it all helps." Hirohito stated.
"As you wish your Majesty. Nothing further from me today." concluded Ginjiro.
"Armed Forces please."
"Good morning your Majesty, Gentlemen." Tanigawa began. "1947 was another good year for Imperial Japanese forces throughout the World. Unlike the previous two years there was little in the way of Naval warfare and our main combat zone was in Asia against the Red Army. This time last year we were defensive and waiting for the Spring offensive to be launched by the Soviets. This year the Red Army is in full retreat and we are advancing across the entire front.
We also entered the Middle East during 1947, and very much like India, it has been a very fluid front with initial combat against the Allies, which is continuing, and later with Soviets. This area remains fluid in the west but is more stable on the Soviet front.
I will be making the main reports this month and leave the detailed Armed Force reports to the respective Ministers. I will begin with the Pacific."
"There have been no changes to territory at all in the last year with the Allies apparently happy to keep a status quo. The attacks against Hawaii have never materialised which could be due to the fairly large garrison we have on the islands. This map splits the northern and southern Pacific with sixteen divisions in the north and twenty one in the south, which includes the Australian defence force.
I do not expect anything to alter in the Pacific during 1948 unless the American Pacific Fleet grows considerably. We have done a very good job of keeping it's numbers down for more than twelve months which has kept it from being able to launch multi-beach landings. I do expect some Naval activity from the Allies as it is highly likely that they have rebuilt a lot of their Transport capacity. Hopefully they will continue to throw ships and troops away near Ceylon and not attack a more vunerable area."
"Asia has altered a lot in the last year with broad based advances by our forces in most areas. The light green circles show territory that we have gained during 1948, although in most cases it is more a case of re-claimed from the Soviets after they had captured it from us. The three dark green circles are advances by the Soviets. Dunhuang is the only one outside Siberia with the other two in the extreme north east.
The two most obvious changes are the return of Manchukuo to its former borders and the large land increase for Mengkukuo as it takes control of former Mongolian territory as well as re-claiming its own. We have also advanced onto Soviet soil in the center as well as along the Siberian east coast.
There are three Armies operating in this maps borders. The Kwantung Army in the east and in China defensively, the East Asia Army in the center and the North China Army in the west. There are no plans to add more Armies at this time but areas of responsibility for the current ones could change as the year progresses."
"India and the Middle East has also seen us gain a large amount of territory. Everything to the west of Karachi was captured during 1947 with the Soviets only gaining two provinces in former Sianking in the north east. All troops to the west of Karachi are in the Central Asia Army with all troops in India belonging to the North China Army.
The Central Asia Army is currently conducting Operation Lynchpin which is designed to advance into vital southern Soviet resource areas as well as to further reduce the Red Army. The entire operation is also another large diversion to allow our forces to advance in the east where the enemy numbers are now dwindling as the Soviets respond to the newer threat closer to Moscow.
I will break these larger maps down into slightly smaller ones to show our current force sizes before going into detail for each individual part of the fronts."
"Eastern Asia has two Armies. The Kwantung Army component in this area contains thirty six divisions and is at full strength with no new forces on the way. It will grow as Manchuria builds troops and will probably take on extra defensive duties as it does so.
The East Asia Army currently has thirteen divisions available for combat with a further eleven in the process of redeploying."
"Moving west we have two more Armies. The North China Army has thirty eight combat ready divisions with six more redeploying. The Kwantung Army has forty six divisions most of which are Garrison divisions and this entire force is an anti-partisan one controlling revolt in China. This Army will also grow as troops from Mengkukuo become available."
"India only has troops from the North China Army present and there are sixteen divisions in all with no more due to arrive to suppliment this force."
"The Middle East also only has one Army present. The Central Asian Army controls this area with thirty nine divisions deployed and a further twelve redeploying. The majority of its forces are in the north and north east."
"Going into more detail I shall start in Manchuria. Our line is purely defensive during the Winter with General Kawabe in command of the Kwantung Army and stationed in Qiqihar. Only three divisions of this part of his Army are Japanese and accompany his Headquarters as a reserve force. The front line defensive troops are all Manchurian in origin. Kawabe's current orders are to hold across the Amur river and support advances on his left flank by the East Asia Army."
"To Kawabe's west we have Field Marshall Terauchi and the East Asia Army. Terauchi is currently in Ulan-Ude and advancing towards his Army's primary goal of Irkutsk. He is also moving north to provide a better defensive position for his right flank. The advance in the south is by elements of the North China Army. The enemy force in Tannu Tuva is of concern as our troops are tiring quickly and are likely to be thrown back once they make any advance. Terauchi should capture Irkutsk without much trouble but it will then be a race between the Soviet forces and our own as we try to redeploy before they can advance."
