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Slaying the Dragon

3





0100 November 1st 1944.
North China Army Headquarters. Jinghong, China.

The situation in Burma and Siam was slowly improving as more troops arrived to try and halt the British advance. The arrival of eight divisions in Kra had shored up the southern defensive line, or so Higashikuni thought.​

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Field Marshal Wilson was not impressed by either the number or quality of Japanese troops defending the province. General Kawabe agreed with his assessment after two hours of fighting and withdrew to Alor Star and Singora.​





0200 November 1st 1944.
BB Division 1 Flagship. IJN Yamashiro, Bangka Strait.

Higashikuni was not the only commander faced with a problem as November began. Yamamoto was also receiving reports of attacks in the Pacific. One in particular was of concern.​

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Lt. General Yokoyama Isa had reported an attempted invasion against Guam by the Americans. His two infantry divisions were being attacked by three armoured divisions. Yokoyama Isa was confident that he could hold out against the armour which appeared to have no naval support.​

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Yamamoto's immediate response was to send the Submarines of Admiral Triye to the South Mariana Trench to hunt down the Transport fleets. He also ordered Ozawa and his Naval bombers to stop looking for ships east of the Marianas and find the invasion fleet.​

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As was usually the case, Yamashita's interceptors found the enemy ships first at 0800 hours. There were indeed no escorting vessels, just three Transport fleets containing a lot of armour.​

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BB Division 1 encountered a British Submarine fleet just as Yamamoto received word from Yamashita of the invasion fleet off Guam. The Light Carrier IJN Zuiho would sink the 5th Submarine Flotilla.​





1200 November 1st 1944.
North China Army Headquarters. Jinghong, China.

The loss of Kra was not too much of a problem for the moment as it would take quite a while for enemy troops to march through the jungles of Moulmein to reach the province. A second attack against Higashikuni's still weak line would place even more pressure on his forces.​

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Lt. General Phanomyong would be forced to retreat from the Shan States after being attacked by a superior British force led by Field Marshal Deverall.​

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The situation for Field Marshal Hata in Chiang Rai had now become untenable and he too would withdraw his forces to Phitsanulok to complete a solid mountain defensive line in Siam.​





1800 November 1st 1944.
BB Division 1 Flagship. IJN Yamashiro, Bangka Strait.

Yamamoto was receiving a steady stream of reports from Guam that were keeping him appraised of the current situation. That situation deteriorated at 1800 hours.​

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Yokoyama Isa was now facing seven American divisions, mostly armoured. He was still fairly confident of holding his position despite the number of enemy troops he was facing. As had already been proven before, the jungles of Guam were not a good place to try and invade with armoured forces. Losses were begining to mount for General Wyman.​

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The situation worsened for Wyman when Triye and his Submarines found the Transport fleets exposed during their attempted amphibious assault. The Submarines would be able to intermittantly close with his fleet and began to sink Transport ships.​

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At 2200 hours BB Division 1 encountered another small fleet in the Bangka Strait. Both Destroyer Divisions would be sunk but only the 50th could be credited to a single Japanese ships guns. The ship responsible would be the IJN Yamashiro.​
 
0000 November 2nd 1944.
Diplomatic Offices. Tokyo, Japan.

One of Mamoru's envoys had just submitted an update on the internal machinations of the Soviet empire.​

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His account stated that the small Soviet puppet of Tannu Tuva had wished to become a part of the Soviet Union. The Soviets had refused and allowed the small puppet state to remain independant.​





0100 November 2nd 1944.
BB Division 1 Flagship. IJN Yamshiro, Bangka Strait.

The latest reports from Guam were looking fairly good for Yokoyama Isa. Nothing much had changed as far as the Americans making a successful landing were concerned.​

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The defences were still standing firm and the attacking armour was showing clear signs of suffering mounting casualties. Of even more concern to General Wyman would be the Submarines and Aircraft chasing his Transport ships.​

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The invasion was called off at 0200 hours as the Submarines forced Wyman to withdraw. By 0700 hours the bombers had sunk one of the Transport fleets along with whatever troops had been onboard.

The bombers would return to base shortly to refuel and rearm ready for the next day of chasing unescorted Transport ships. The report Yamamoto received as they arrived over their actual target, at 2200 hours, was a surprise.​

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Vice Admiral Ogan had apparently not seen the skull and crossbones on his naval maps and moved his fleet into the North Mariana Trench. His fleet had already met Air General Ozawa before and should have known what would happen. Unfortunately for Ogan the Naval bombers were not exhausted or under strength this time.​

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The USS Saratoga sank within an hour as her bulkheads buckled from multiple torpedo and bomb strikes. The Light Carrier USS Langley followed her to the bottom at 0100 hours with the USS Princeton sinking an hour later. One Naval bomber squadron had been damaged during the attacks and the entire bombing force returned to their bases to rearm and refuel. Ogan had mercifully left the area by the time they returned.

Maybe now the Americans would leave the Marianas alone. Yamamoto would learn that this was not to be the case at 1400 hours on November 3rd.​

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The remaining six Transport ships had returned to Guam to attempt a second invasion of the island. Yokoyama Isa would confirm that the American division lost when its Transport fleet was sunk during the last aborted attempt had been carrying mechanized infantry. Once again the commander was unconcerned by the attack and remained confident of victory.

Triye's Submarines found the Transport ships at 1700 hours and things began to go terribly wrong for Wyman from that point onwards.​

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Ozawa and his wingman Genda arrived at dawn with the American invasion already aborted. Triye had already done enough to make Wyman retreat. One Transport fleet was sunk by 2300 hours with a second following it before the American Transports could flee the area. The first three days of November had been a disaster for the United States Navy.​





0000 November 4th 1944.
Industry Offices. Tokyo, Japan.

Ginjiro was happy to see the latest production complete on time. The initial production had called for a series of divisions to be raised but that plan had changed.​

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Six new infantry divisions deployed to Fukuoka where they would await a Transport fleet to ferry them south. The fleet would arrive within two days during which time they would organise as quickly as possible. The production was switched to increase the rate of dissent reduction and to keep pace with repairs required by Japan's armed forces.​
 
While the situation in the Pacific looks stable, I fear that Siam is a different matter.

Nice update. :)
 
The Americans sure are putting a lot of effort in capturing Guam...even though they would just abandon it anyhow.

As for Tannu Tuva, Stalin doesn't need that country when he has northern Albania. :cool:
 
Remble said:
A quick little puzzle for you to work out. On the European map in the November update there are a total of nine Countries with their capitals not where they were in 1936. What Countries are they? Yes its not easy to see but what fun would that be Albania and Germany do not count as they have no choice.
How about-
Italy
Yugoslavia
Czechoslavakia
Austria
Hungary
Greece
 
Remble said:
A quick little puzzle for you to work out. On the European map in the November update there are a total of nine Countries with their capitals not where they were in 1936. What Countries are they? Yes its not easy to see but what fun would that be :p Albania and Germany do not count as they have no choice.

The nine countries and provinces are:

1: Greece - Agrino
2: Yugoslavia - Podgorica
3: Hungary - Miskolc
4: Czeckoslovakia - Banska Bystrica
5: Norway - Stavanger
6: Denmark - Bornholm
7: Italy
8: France
9: Belgium

I'm not 100% sure on the last three as you said, its hard to see.
 
Panzer6 said:
The nine countries and provinces are:

1: Greece - Agrino
2: Yugoslavia - Podgorica
3: Hungary - Miskolc
4: Czeckoslovakia - Banska Bystrica
5: Norway - Stavanger
6: Denmark - Bornholm
7: Italy
8: France
9: Belgium

I'm not 100% sure on the last three as you said, its hard to see.
Crap I thought he said there were six. Oh well nice job.
 
Are you able to divert any troops to the defence of Siam. That seems to be nessesary, however the offense in the Jungles of Indochina is a difficult one, when a determined enemy tries to hinder the attack.

Good that north-eastern front will be covered. But are you going to try an offensive there?
 
It seems the Americans really want to have Guam... I mean really really... ;) :D
 
Murmurandus said:
It seems the Americans really want to have Guam... I mean really really... ;) :D
Well, they did have it at the start of the Pacific campaign in 1941, so its a matter of pride to them. First their pride, then their ships, then their land. :D After that, its all fair game.
 
Originally posted by Panzer6:
Well, they did have it at the start of the Pacific campaign in 1941, so its a matter of pride to them. First their pride, then their ships, then their land. :D After that, its all fair game.

The Americans conquered Guam from the Spanish, so it's rightfully theirs. You can also see it as a prolonged Manifest Destiny of sorts. They go nuts on you if they can't have that. :eek: :wacko:

That invasion is a sign of things to come: Not defeat, but more to kill. :D
 
Mangudai said:
Communist Party of China's doctrine is Communism: false. ;)

The Communist party in China has just gone ahead with too many compromises for me to call them communist. Socialist is a more relaxing term.

It's true that China is only nominally a communist state (at least judging by the name of the ruling faction, I don't know whether they refer to themselves as communist state). But I can't imagine Hu Jintao shouting

"Socialism-turned-Free-Market-Authoritarianism-called-Communism-but-actually-none-of-those-yet-something-in-between RULEZ!"

So I'll stick with Communism for brevity's sake. ;)

@Remble: Congratulation on you naval successes. They may be mostly due to the AI's stupidity but a victory is a victory is a victory.

Now if you could only convince the British to also try naval landings (hey, maybe THAT's the secret plan!). The way it look now, Siam will be one very slow retreat. It's interesting to see what a mixture of numerical superiority combined with advanced technology can accomplish against dug in foes even in adverse terrain.
 
How much longer before you can get additional troops to Siam?
 
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Lt. General Phanomyong would be forced to retreat from the Shan States after being attacked by a superior British force led by Field Marshal Deverall.​

Which units are out of supply in this battle?

I've noticed that the UK can have supply convoy issues. The supplies needed for the UK may have increased if the number of troops in India increased.

On the other hand, are your troops in Siam supplied by Siam or by Japan? If it is Siam, that nation might not have enough supplies. I suggest checking on this.
 
Sokraates said:
It's true that China is only nominally a communist state (at least judging by the name of the ruling faction, I don't know whether they refer to themselves as communist state). But I can't imagine Hu Jintao shouting

"Socialism-turned-Free-Market-Authoritarianism-called-Communism-but-actually-none-of-those-yet-something-in-between RULEZ!"

So I'll stick with Communism for brevity's sake. ;)
.

Or in other words, Socialism with Chinese Characterisics :D
 
Skulls and crossbones :cool:

The Marianas were death traps for the US. Great work. My only concern is the ever growing stronger building up of british forces in Siam. If you can't give them a heavy punch or two they won't stop marching on.
 
Btw: Yeah, I should have known that it is impossible to land in Dhaka.
Too many cliffs. :)
 
Yes, then a man named Regean came in and brought it back...back to Japan!