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Initial Reports

Armed Forces





0000 June 20th 1944.
Imperial Palace. Tokyo, Japan.

"I will now begin the briefings for our various Armed Forces." Hideki continued. Not only was he Prime Minister but also Chief of Staff. "An overview of the current situation is the best way to show our current Empire and that of our enemies. I will be breaking some areas down further to highlight problems and some initial actions."​

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"As we can all clearly see, we control a large amount of islands as well as territory in China and Indochina. Our primary land adversary is clearly Nationalist China with the United Kingdom's presence in Indochina being a secondary concern.

Our far flung Empire has created some untenable positions due to recent American advances across various island chains. Their recent capture of Saipan in particular is of great concern. They can use its facilities as both an airbase and a port, and it is sufficiently close to the Japanese mainland that it would allow invasions almost anywhere in our territory. Saipan in enemy hands also places both Guam and Palau under threat.

Wake and Marcus Islands are now almost totally un-protectable and the forces there are likely to be attacked at short notice. Our forces in Rabaul are also hopelessly positioned and will either die fighting or need to be extracted. Truk is in a similar position with one division guarding the island.

Hollandia is also under threat of being totally lost with three divisions currently isolated by American forces. Indonesia and its many islands is currently under our full control but we have very limited forces with which to defend it.

The Philippines are fairly well garrisoned and should be safe without further reinforcements for the time being.

Our forces in Indochina are totally outnumbered and face an enemy using superior technology. The terrain is hostile, which is in our favour, but we will have little choice but to withdraw in this area.

China has a fairly large army which outnumbers our own forces. In a reverse of the situation in Indochina, our forces are superior in technology on this front.

The Soviet Union and Mongolia are not at War with us for now and are of little concern with their full fledged War in Europe.

I will now hand you over to our military specialists to discuss the current state of their forces before going into more detail about our current plans. We will begin with the the Airforce." concluded Hideki.

"Your Majesty, Gentlemen. The Imperial Japanese Airforce is in good condition throughout with all fighter and bomber wings at full strength. They are almost all requiring some upgrades which puts them at a disadvantage against any Allied aircraft." began Ushiroku Jun, Chief of the Airforce.​

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"We have a large amount of interceptor squadrons and a decent amount of bombers of various types. Our Airforce is currently the largest in the Axis, but Germany's is the most modern. The Airforce is spread across our Empire and will need to be reorganised in order for it to fight more efficiently.

All Naval bomber squadrons will be rebasing to Iwo Jima with all Tactical bomber squadrons moving to Palau and Iwo Jima to conduct anti-shipping patrols.

One Interceptor wing will be stationed in Guam to provide air cover for our bombers. The remaining Interceptor squadrons will all be rebased to Hiroshima where they will be formed into four squadron wings. These aircraft will then be positioned at airbases throughout the Home islands to provide air cover for Japan as well as naval patrols around the Home islands. I do not see any immediate need for fighter cover over China as our main enemy in the region has nothing to fly against us. Basing most of our airforce on the Home islands will conserve convoys and fuel.

We need to increase our aircrafts abilities through research as soon as possible in order to be able to fight our enemies on an even footing. Nothing further from me and I will hand you over to the Chief of the Navy." concluded Jun.

"Your Majesty. Our current Naval forces are the third largest in the World behind the United States and the United Kingdom. Both of these Nations are our adversaries and possess a more modern fleet. The United States Navy is most likely to be the only fleet we face directly for the time being, with the Royal Navy occupied in Europe." Nagano Osami began.​

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"The Imperial Japanese Navy is currently operating four Aircraft Carriers with more under construction and due within the next few months. We also have seven Battleships and two Battlecruisers. Almost the entire Imperial Japanese Navy is of older type vessels and we need to construct some more modern variants to be comparable with our foes. Ships take a long time to build and I do not expect any new ones to be laid down for some time.

We basically have the only Navy within the Axis and it is sorely outgunned and outmatched in most areas. We will have little option but to utilise the forces we have to attempt to repell the United States and losses will be inevitable during this process. With some luck, and support from the Airforce, we might be able to force the United States fleet to withdraw from waters close to the Home islands.

The majority of our fleet is spread throughout our Empire much like the airforce and it will be making its way back to Tokyo to be re-organised. This process will take several weeks and most ships will not head home until they receive more supplies. All waters in the Pacific are currently hostile and it is unlikely that they will all return undamaged. I will now hand you over to the Chief of the Army." concluded Osami.

"Thank you Nagano. Your Majesty, Gentlemen. The Imperial Japanese Army is operating mostly in China but is also guarding vital strategic islands in the Pacific theater." began Inanba Satoru.​

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"Our German ally has a much larger army than ours and it is also more modern. Our own army is mostly infantry with a small amount of armour and some very limited special forces. We are behind in technology across our whole force when compared to the Allies. This situation is reversed in China where our own troops are superior in this respect.

One quarter of our ground forces are defending the border with the Soviet Union and these forces will be moved to fight China. We need them fighting not guarding a non-hostile border. Our own puppet states forces will be used to guard vital beach provinces to prevent any invasion by Allied troops. The last thing we need is for enemy troops more modern than ours behind our lines in China. Defeating China will be a big enough problem without this added hinderance.

The Imperial Japanese Navy will have to ensure that no such invasion can take place, although I fully understand the odds of that happening against such a numerous foe.

I have every confidence that we can defeat the Chinese, both Nationalist and Communist, but it will be slow going in the hostile terrain of China.

Indochina is going to be difficult to hold mainly because we do not have sufficient forces to stop the British. The troops we have in this area will remain and do all that they can to slow the British advance. Siamese troops will assist whenever possible.

Some of our outlying island forces will also be re-positioned to protect higher value assets than they currently do. We may lose some before they can be safely moved from their current positions. That is all from me and I will let the Chief of Staff continue the briefing on our current plans." Satoru concluded.​
 
"Thank you Gentlemen. My collegues have pointed out some of the more immediate concerns of our Armed Forces and I will now cover what we intend to do to try and restructure our defences, and to create a position to become offensive."​

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"The current defences of our Home islands will be dispersed to cover all possible landing sites. We have just sufficient manpower to cover all beaches and leave two extra divisions in Tokyo. These two divisions will be used in a planned amphibious assault that may or may not occur largely dependant on our ability to damage the United States Navy. Additional troops currently being raised will be used to strengthen the defences of the Home islands until such time as this defence is deemed unnecessary."​

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"The Kwantung Army, currently in Manchukuo, will be redeployed to the Chinese front lines where it will then begin conducting offensive operations against Chinese forces. All Manchurian troops will be used to defend various possible invasion routes in Korea and China. Several garrison forces in China will also be moved to guard other beaches."​

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"Our position in Burma is a defensive one. We have no alternative but to conduct a slow withdrawal in the face of overwhelming numbers in this area. Even so it will take the British months to advance through the very hostile terrain in this region."​

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"Our forces in Hollandia are in a hopeless position. The three divisions in the east are surrounded and the remaining two in the west will soon be in a similar position. All three divisions currently in Aitapi will be ordered to break up and conduct limited guerilla warfare in the mountains and jungles of this region. The remaining two divisions we will attempt to extract and move further west most likely to Borneo. This island has some valuable raw materials that we wish to keep including oil."​

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"This leaves the Chinese mainland to cover in depth. Along most of the Front we are outnumbered and will conduct a holding defensive operation. This covers almost the entire northern region.

The Kwantung Army will be arriving in Changsha in the center, where it will then head towards the Chinese capital once it arrives and is reorganised.

All of our Close Air Support Aircraft will move to Qingdao to provide air support to operations in Guangxi initially.

Two immediate advances will be made in the south utilising the forces currently in the area. These advances are shown in blue.

The cavalry divisions in Zhuzhou will head south into Hengyang and then attack the capital of Guangxi, Guilin. This should provide us with some raw materials from their own stocks if we can manage to conduct this manouver quickly enough. The possibility of China annexing Guangxi before we can accomplish this is the main problem, as there are insufficient enemy forces in this area to stop this advance.

A second attack will be conducted from Bao'an and will move north, using our armour and motorised forces, to capture Guangzhou and Shaoguan. The superior speed of these troops should allow them to reach their objectives before any reaction can stop them.

The two combined attacks, if successful, will result in isolating approximately twenty five to thirty Nationalist divisions in south eastern China. This one advance could remove one quarter of the hostile forces facing us in China. These isolated divisions would then be left encircled for a period of time, to suitable reduce their effectiveness, before being mopped up by light forces.

The large number of enemy forces on this Front allows them many chances to attack us and we will adapt our own defenses to cover any such attack. No further troops can be sent to aid this area than are already in theater and what we have available will have to be enough to defeat China."​

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"Our Aircraft Carriers are all stationed in Palawan in Carrier Group C commanded by Grand Admiral Nagano. They will sail immediately and head to Tokyo to refuel before attempting hit and run tactics against the United States Navy. They may also be required to support any offensive operations by our own forces in the Pacific."​

jun20440000wake.jpg

"Grand Admiral Yamamoto will be taking his BB Division 1 east towards Wake Island to attempt to extract the marine division commanded by Mj. General Banzai. He will then also embark the division on Marcus Island and land both on the Bonin Islands as a defensive force. This move is to be covered by bomber aircraft, both Naval and Tactical, as we do not know the current disposition of the United States fleet. This is a risky operation but a necessary one as we have no hope of holding Wake Island and we need all of the divisions we can muster.

Further plans are being made to extract troops on eastern islands, particularly Rabaul and Hollandia. These will depend on enemy fleet activity to a large extent. We will be defending the islands of Guam and Palau rigorously as these are vital to our overall strategic success. Force commanders in each area have been selected and are as follows."​

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"Field Marshall Sugiyama will take over command of Imperial GHQ and be in overall command of Homeland defence."​

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"Field Marshall Higashikuni will command North China Army HQ and all forces in China and Burma."​

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"Grand Admiral Yamamoto will lead BB Division 1, with his flagship being IJN Yamashiro for the time being. Yamamoto will be in command of all forces in the Pacific. I think that covers everything your majesty." concluded Hideki.

"I think it does Prime Minister. All of the proposed moves are logical, although in some cases, frought with danger. You have my approval to carry out these plans but I wish to be kept appraised of developments regularly. Gentlemen we have a Country and its people to protect, let us not delay that with any idle talk." Hirohito said as he left the room, officially ending the meeting.​
 
Remble said:
All trades are from capital to capital so it goes by sea.
bad. how good/bad is your trade efficiency with the soviets?

burma looks rather bad, as well as some of the pacific islands. i think, your technological advantage and the planned encirclement will bring a swift (well, swift for chinese circumstances) victory in china. i personally dont think, the nationalists will annex guanxi. they usually annex them, when they are in danger of being annexed and guanxi has some other VPs iirc, so taking the capital should not be a problem
 
The Chinese Order of Operations sounds good to me. I know in your last AAR the Nationalists annexed all of the warlords though, so good luck with those supplies there.

Also, is there really a Mj. General named Banzai? :D
 
Good Luck, this should be tough, kill every American vessel you find!
 
Wait...isn't Yamamoto supposed to be dead by this point? :confused:

Dirked99 said:
Good Luck, this should be tough, kill every American vessel you find!

Yes, kill every American vessel you find and then remember that at least two more American vessels will pop up for every one you sink. :eek: Unlike with the German AAR, Japan doesn't have the "luxury" of building up a powerful navy. Remble will have to handle each Japanese ship carefully.
 
Nathan Madien said:
Wait...isn't Yamamoto supposed to be dead by this point? :confused:

Yamamoto is suppose to be dead but paradox made a mistake. They forgot to take him out in the '44 scenario. But I won't complain as Remble has it hard enough as it is (very hard)

Nathan Madien said:
Yes, kill every American vessel you find and then remember that at least two more American vessels will pop up for every one you sink. :eek: Unlike with the German AAR, Japan doesn't have the "luxury" of building up a powerful navy. Remble will have to handle each Japanese ship carefully.

Hence he needs to use his airforce more effectively. His navy will not hold off the USN by itself and needs massive support from the air. Good luck in all aspects Remble.
 
The pressure will be massive. Would suck if any of the rallying ships were intercepted on their way to Tokyo!

Man, forgetting to remove Yamamoto? Embarrassing.

What would most definitly suck would be a quick closure to the war in Europe and a behemoth Operation August Storm! :(

Good luck. May the Sun Godess smile upon you. ;)
 
yamamote is not the only one they forgot to remove. the soviets have tukhachevsky (the german secret service gave the soviets documents that "proved" he was a traitor and his trial started the great purges)
 
Manziel said:
yamamote is not the only one they forgot to remove. the soviets have tukhachevsky (the german secret service gave the soviets documents that "proved" he was a traitor and his trial started the great purges)

Gosh... check just in case we find Miyamoto Mushashi... :p
 
So they forgot Tukhachevsky too. What the hell!? :rofl: He was the "big star" of the officer purges, and the most important military strategist and philosopher of the Red Army, and they "forgot about him"?
 
well they are called Paradox......

great stuff there!!! - good luck!
 
I don’t go on the Forums for a week and Remble starts a new AAR.

This one looks good almost better than the last. I will follow this one closely I wish I could give you advice but I never play as Japan to much micro managing for me. Anyway good luck not as if you need it.
 
Manziel - Trade efficiency with the Soviets is less than 10% and therefore pointless. I certainly hope Guangxi doesn't get annexed until after I take the capital. Of course it might not have much in the way of stockpiles anyway.

Archer, Dirked99, Simon-1979 - Thank you :)

Maj. von Mauser - Mj.General Banzai is alive and well commanding marines on Wake Island. So yes he does exist :D

Nathan Madien, Panzer6, Manziel - An AAR provides the writer with a fairly large scope of altering history. When I do it, which isn't too often, I try and make it plausable as you know. Did Yamamoto really die is the question.

I am hoping to avoid just about all Naval combat for the time being, whether its achievable or not will depend on just how many ships the USN has around. The airforce will be my main weapon against the USN for some time I expect.

Mangudai - Thank you. My ships are staggered a little in the hope of avoiding anything that can sink them, but those types of enemy fleets could be anywhere. I really would like to see Germany last long enough for me to steal all of their technology, but I don't think thats very likely .. I mean I hope they survive long enough for me to assist them in their conquest of the World.

Cpt Rossi - Leaving the forums is bad for you :)

Update to follow ... I had to press the unpause button to get material but some evils are necessary.
 
Stemming the Tide
1





0100 June 20th 1944.
North China Army Headquarters. Zhuzhou, China.

Field Marshall Higashikuni, commander of forces in China, had a few things to consider. He was tasked with slowing the British in Burma as well as prosecuting an offensive against the Chinese and their allies. He knew he had to move quickly to destroy the Chinese before the British could pose a serious threat to his western flank. All this he had to do with very limited forces until the Kwantung Army arrived from the north.

Two messages awaited him as he entered his headquarters, one from forces in Burma the other from southern China. Neither was any surprise and he would need to make no changes to his current plans.​

jun20440100gr.jpg

The defences of Kalewa in Burma had been attacked from three sides, which had forced Lt. General Amemiya to withdraw towards Mandalay. The British would take weeks to advance in this area with thick jungles and mountains hindering their operations.​

jun20440100gr2.jpg

In the south the Imperial Japanese Army had launched two attacks to begin operations to both isolate the Chinese southern army, as well capture the capital of Guangxi.

General Nishio led five divisions, mostly cavalry, into Hengyang province. His superior numbers made the fight short with the enemy withdrawing at 0500 hours.

Japans mainland armoured force had attacked north towards Guangzhou led by General Asaka. The fight lasted a few hours longer than the northern advance but it too was over by 0900 hours. The enemy was still using weapons from the First World War with most of the troops being locally raised militias. These proved to be no match for more modern armoured forces.​





0000 June 21st 1944.
Diplomatic Offices. Tokya Japan.

Foreign Minister Mamoru had a lot of work to accomplish, most of which was urgent for the survival of his Country. The Nationalist Chinese had assisted his workload slightly for which he was thankful.​

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They had decided to annex Shanxi to prevent Japan doing the same. China was one of Japan's primary targets and Mamoru doubted this move would help them in any way.​

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The biggest task facing Mamoru was trying to balance Japan's trade. There were precious few Countries that would even consider trading with his Country and of these even less had anything that was needed urgently by Japan. Yet more possible trades had to be ignored for the time being as the losses would be far to high to enemy shipping to make them worth while.

He had managed to arrange trades with both Argentina and Venezuela for fairly large quantities of oil, which would help considerably once most of Japan's forces had arrived at more permanent bases. The only energy he could acquire for now was from Japan's puppet of Manchukuo. It was not much but every little would help.​

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Some good news came from Siam who had agreed to allow Japanese commanders to take control of its army.​





0700 June 21st 1944.
BB Division 1 Flagship. IJN Yamashiro, Japan Trench.

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto had planned to be on an aircraft bound for Bougainville in the Solomon Islands on April 18th 1943. One of the most closely guarded secrets in Japan was that he never boarded the plane. High ranking officers routinely laid plans to visit various outposts, but in most cases doubles undertook these missions. That Japan's codes had been cracked and were regularly decoded by American Naval intelligence was well known, there had been too many coincidences to say otherwise. Japan did not possess the necessary technology to keep all of their plans a secret.

The decision was made to allow the Americans to believe that they had killed the man responsible for Pearl Harbour. Yamamoto spent the next year in almost total seclusion to keep up this pretence. Japan's enemies knew how he worked and plans often had his distictive touch, they would have noticed these signs had he continued to operate Japanese forces. He was still kept informed of plans but these were not altered to add his knowledge and expertise. His loss was mourned and the military's moral had plummeted as a result.

Very few people knew that he was currently on the bridge of the Battleship IJN Yamashiro. He was once more in command of the fortunes of Japanese forces in the Pacific. The Americans would eventually work out who was running the forces facing them, but by then it would hopefully be too late. His own fleet was heading towards Wake Island to extract the marines defending the island, other forces were moving into position to cover this move and assist him should any enemy fleet be found.

The one thing Yamamoto needed more than anything else was the knowledge of his enemies whereabouts. The Imperial Japanese Airforce had placed a total of thirteen bomber squadrons at his disposal to acquire that information and to attack whatever they found. These aircraft had arrived at airbases in Iwo Jima and Palau and were now out searching for their prey. They did not take long to find what they were looking for.​

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At 0700 hours on June 21st Air General Ozawa, leading the four Naval bomber squadrons that Japan possessed, found a fleet containing seven of the United States Navy's Battleships, led by Admiral Spruance. Ozawa spent the next three hours leading his aircraft in an attempt to inflict as much damage as possible upon this fleet. The results were not totally to his satisfaction, even with the addition of three tactical bomber squadrons to the attack, but the Battleship USS Alabama had been moderately damaged by this encounter. Spruance had guided his fleet out of the range of the bombers for the time being.​

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Ozawa continued on his patrol and at first thought he had caught sight of the same fleet as before. Closer examination told him that this was a second Battleship fleet, this time commanded by Admiral Wright. This fleet also contained seven Battleships. Yamamoto now knew where almost two thirds of the United States Navy's Battleships were.

Seven bomber squadrons decended to drop torpedoes and bombs upon this new fleet in the hopes of sinking at least one of these older Battleships. Again they would not succeed but the USS California would sustain slight damage and the USS New Mexico would be heavily damaged. With some luck this might put this fleet out of action for a while.​

Ozawa headed back to refuel and re-arm and was soon back out hunting for more enemy vessels. The environment was currently rich with high value targets and he soon found some even more valuable assets of the United States Navy.​

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2200 hours saw daylight begin in the Pacific and his bombers would spend the next four hours attempting to destroy some of America's more modern Aircraft Carriers.

Within two hours the Carrier USS Franklin had been hit several times and multiple fires were raging within her structure. Admiral English had too many capital ships in his fleet and the screens were not able to provide the anti-aircraft cover the Carriers needed. Ozawa was losing some bombers to the Carriers aircraft but not enough to force him to withdraw.

By 0200 hours on June 22nd the American fleet had suffered its first casualty at the hands of the returned leader of Japan's Pacific forces. The Carrier USS Franklin had sunk after receiving more direct hits from both bombs and torpedoes, with a second Carrier, USS Hancock, now bearing the brunt of further attacks. English would manage to escape further punishment as the Japanese bombers headed back to Iwo Jima to refuel.​





0000 June 23rd 1944.
Diplomatic Offices. Tokyo, Japan.

The Siamese Ambassador had requested an audience with Mamoru and he was only to happy to allow the diplomat into his offices with the minimal of delay. Relations with Siam were extremely cordial and it was hoped that this audience would help Japan and its cause.​

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This was the case, as the Siamese Government had agreed to send both metal and rare materials to Japan to assist in the running of its industry. Metal was a commodity that Japan was lacking but it still needed energy and lots of it. This the Siamese could not help Mamoru with as they too had a limited supply. The friendly ally had asked for nothing in exchange for this trade for which Mamoru was thankful. He had very little to offer with the current very poor state of Japan's resources.​





0200 June 23rd 1944.
BB Division 1 Flagship. IJN Yamashiro, Grosvenor Seamount.

Yamamoto's fleet was making good time towards Wake Island but was still several days away. The waters to the south of his route were currently very hostile with at least two Surface Action Groups and one Carrier Task Force operating close by. The Imperial Japanese Airforce was doing all it could to harass these fleets and force them back to port for repairs.​

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Two flights of two Tactical bomber squadrons were operating from Palau and covering the Mariana Trench. Both Air Generals Ichimaru and Kondo had found targets in their area.

Kondo was trying to sink an American Submarine divisions, which was proving to be a very ellusive target. Ichimaru had come upon a huge Transport fleet that was currently embarking marines from Saipan. Of the twenty two ships in the fleet seventeen were Transports. Bad weather combined with tired pilots from their rebasing meant that little damage was inflicted, but the knowledge of their whereabouts was very useful.

Yamamoto was now wishing that he had a large surface or submarine fleet somewhere close to Saipan. He could sink a very large part of the United States Fleet's ability to move troops if he had such a force available. The current state and force dispersal of the Imperial Japanese Navy was such that he knew he would have to wait for another opportunity to find these ships so lightly defended. For now he would have to be content with knowledge of their whereabouts and the small amount of damage the bombers could inflict.​
 
nice update, and good luck with the game
 
Shame you can't take out those transports. Do you know how many the US has at this point?
 
One for each individual soldier? ;)


Seriously though, I think that the US has enough transports at the sart of the scentrio to pull at least twice that operation.