Initial Reports
Security and Production
0000 June 20th 1944.
Imperial Palace. Tokyo, Japan.
"Continuing with our briefings, we shall move on to the current Security situation." Prime Minister Hideki stated.
"Good morning all. Your Majesty. Security is of no major concern at this time with the majority of our territory free of any type of resistance activity." began Kato Hakujiro the Minister of Security.
"China is the only area with some partisan problem but it contains several garrison divisions which are suppressing any hostile activity. The level of unrest will rise as we expand in China and additional divisions may be required to keep this under control. Our population is holding up well under the current strain and is working furiously to assist the War effort in any way possible. Nothing to add." concluded Hakujiro.
"Production next please."
"Your Majesty. Gentlemen. Our industry is working at full capacity for the time being." Armaments Minister Fujiwara Ginjiro began. "We are facing several problems which do need to be addressed and fairly quickly."
"We have shortfalls in many raw materials which will reduce our capacity to produce new forces as well as supplies if we cannot find alternative sources. Energy is the biggest problem as far as industry is concerned. We have rougly fifteen days before our energy reserves are exhausted at the current level of usage. This situation needs to be addressed urgently or building projects will suffer delays as a result.
Similarly we have a metal shortage, although not as extreme as our energy shortage. I am hopeful that our Siamese ally may be able to help us with metal as they have a surplus. Rare materials show a deficit but this is a variable brought about by our convoy system. We actually have a healthy surplus of this commodity and can use it for trade if required.
Oil is another serious problem. The number shown here is high as many outlying areas have been sent oil that will last them for several days. Daily consumption is still high and our stockpile is low. We will most definately need to trade for this commodity to enable our armed forces to function at full capacity. Reducing the time our ships are at sea and limiting air use will reduce the daily drain, but even then we shall need a lot more than we currently produce.
The supply situation is also not accurate with many convoys currently running. I shall monitor this level for a few days before adjusting production to an appropriate level. Virtually all of our outlying forces will be short of the resources needed for them to function effectively for twenty four hours while the convoys distribute the necessary supplies. Once this initial supply has been achieved things should calm down noticably and a more accurate picture of day to day needs will emerge.
Our industry is currently producing large quantities of consumer goods to appease the populace after the various Cabinet changes of the last few hours. This will need to continue for a few weeks before this production can be switched to repairs and upgrades. Our forces need few replacements although several upgrades are needed to bring our forces up to our current level of technology.
Our manpower situation is fairly good but the amount of new manpower becoming available is low and will need to be carefully monitored.
We have over 1200 convoy vessels, of which, roughly 800 are supplying our outlying interests. This number changes daily but I will ensure we have enough to keep all of our Armed Forces supplied. Major anti-convoy activity by our enemies could result in serious losses to our convoy fleet and we should take some steps to prevent this type of loss."
"I have made very few changes to our current production runs, although I did halt the two Submarines under construction as they were older types. We are producing four Aircraft Carriers, only one of which is modern. The Combat Air Groups for these vessels can be upgraded to newer models effectively making even old Carriers useful. The only real problem with using outdated vessels of this type is their speed. All of these Carriers are due fairly soon."
"We are also producing one Light Cruiser and Destroyer which I will also allow to complete production. The Imperial Japanese Navy is short of escort type vessels and these are needed. More may need to be produced but there are other priorities at the moment.
I have ordered an additional thirty infantry divisions to be raised to both protect our mainland from invasion and to strengthen our remaining territory. This amount of extra troops should also allow us to conduct offensive operations without weakening critical areas. Some extra garrison divisions will be produced when we need them, depending on the situation in China.
I do not wish to expand our current building program until we have secured additional raw materials to guarantee our industrial supply. More aircraft and ships are required by those parts of our military but they have fairly lengthy construction times, for which we may not have the long term materials available to produce them. If no action is taken to remedy our stocks we will be running at approximately 50% industrial capacity within weeks. Needless to say our enemies do not have this problem. Nothing further." concluded Ginjiro.