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I find that the allied AI has a thing for India after Germany disappears. I wouldn't be surprised to see some blue spots popping up after that cavalry division leaves.
 
The end of the year is coming, so it would be nice to see a statistic of all the ships the IJN has sunk from the start and also the sunk lists of the most successfull IJN ships in the next update.
Do japanese celebrate christmas or something similar?
So good luck for the next year.
 
Looks like the AI has been stacking its forces again.
 
Things are heating up in India I like that very much. :D

Have your submarines sunk anything in this game? At least around Saipan they don't seem to be doing much, except chasing away enemies that should rather be sunk. And I think they will be, once BB Division 1 oder 2 are back.

Regarding Tibet, I thought that one can trace supply routes through allied countries even if you are not at war together. Every day you learn something new.
 
Tibet is neutral (I've never once seen them declare war), hence no supplyline through it.
 
safferli - They are about the same amount as were there already. It is possible to get transports through if there are enough though.

Thurak - A few more than I expected but not too many fortunately. My bombers are critical to the success of my plans and if they get shot down it will turn into a very slow ugly fight.

Maj. von Mauser - Thank you :)

Porkman - They will doubtless try to invade india at some point, that is if they have any transports left.

cjwet - The end of year report will have a lot of information which will include ship sinking statistics.

stnylan - The AI likes to stack troops :)

Sokraates - My Submarines seem to be completely incapable of sinking anything at all. Maj. von Mauser is correct, Tibet is neutral.

Update to follow to conclude 1944 ...
 
Operation Dilemma

5





0100 December 25th 1944.
North China Army Headquarters. Jinghong, China.

More British troops had arrived in Baoshan to try and block the advance of Japanese forces into the province.​

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Another long battle would ensue with support arriving quickly in the shape of Japanese Dive bombers.​

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It would take a full twenty four hours to finally evict the latest defenders. Japanese troops were tiring quickly with regular combat and bad terrain but they continued their advance for the time being.​





0700 December 25th 1944.
BB Division 1 Flagship. IJN Yamashiro, Gulf of Martapan.

Good news arrived for Yamamoto in the early morning of December 25th from Carrier Group C.​

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Nagano had caught the large enemy Transport fleet in the Palk Strait after it had been forcefully evicted from Trincomalee after a second successful invasion. Four Transport Flotillas would be sunk in all with three being credited to Japanese Aircraft Carriers. The fourth, from Brazil, sank due to unknown causes. The Carrier IJN Amagi, IJN Junyo and IJN Zuikaki would claim one British Transport Flotilla each.

The British fleet was forced to flee towards Madras where Japanese troops were due to arrive early in the New Year. Nagano would wait for them.​

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At 1300 hours on the 26th another attempt to run Yamamoto's blockade failed. The 118th and 26th Transport Divisions were sunk by the Battleships IJN Hyuga and IJN Yamashiro.​

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An hour later the third high seas fleet also found an enemy which it promptly sank. IJN Nagato would claim kills for both the Light Cruiser USS Astoria and the 22nd Destroyer Division.​

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Nagano did not sit and wait for the Transport ships to leave Madras, he sent his Carrier planes to bomb them in the harbour. The Fort Edmonton Flotilla was sunk by aircraft from IJN Zuikaku on the first raid.​





1700 December 26th 1944.
North China Army Headquarters. Jinghong, China.

Field Marshal Wilson had decided it was time to try and break Japanese resistance in Indochina once more.​

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Instead of attacking the three infantry divisions guarding the jungles of Alor Star he chose to attack the armour and motorised force in the hills of Singora. The battle looked to be fairly even but Higashikuni had an ace to play if it was required.

Admiral Godo had recently embarked three divisions from Bangkok and was heading south to move around to reinforce the landings in India. He was going to sail right past Singora on his journey, and he could land these additional troops if needed, to assist with the defence.​

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In India a British mountaineer division tried to attack Calcutta but was immediately halted by the defenders. Two Japanese divisions had begun to move east towards Dimapur. There were now two possible ways to isolate British troops in Burma by either capturing Dimapur or Punakha.​

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Yet another British division had entered Baoshan and this time Higashikuni called off the advance after the headquarters was forced to retreat. Even if his troops could arrive in Baoshan they would not be able to defend the province from even a minor counter attack. They would rest for a few days before trying again. British forces in this area were slowly being destroyed by the Dive bombers and resistance was weakening.​

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Admiral Godo was ordered to land in Singora to assist with the defence of the province as the battle was still undecided and could go either way. His arrival stopped Wilson's assault and he picked his three infantry divisions up again to continue with his original mission.​
 
2200 December 28th 1944.
The Skies Above the Palau Trench.

The South African interceptor wing that had been causing trouble in the Celebes Sea had moved itself to cover the Mariana Trench.​

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It was not going to find single interceptor squadrons to prey upon in this area, and after a brief aerial dogfight, eight interceptor squadrons found themselves grounded to repair the damage they had inflicted upon eachother.​





2200 December 28th 1944.
BB Division 1 Flagship. IJN Yamashiro, Gulf of Martapan.

The first former German fleet had completed its repairs in Batavia and was now available for further duties.​

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The Transport fleet headed back to Japan and the port of Fukuoka, where it would wait for new Japanese troops to be raised before transporting them to northern Asia to begin to form a defence in this area. The two Light Cruisers, KMS Emben and KMS Nurnberg, would be used to reinforce the repairing fleet in Tokyo as it was not deemed necessary to provide an escort for the Transport ships in safe waters.

Yamamoto's next report was not as good. The American's had decided to try something different and instead of invading the Marianas they tried Borneo instead.​

dec28442200gr3.jpg

Mj. General Aung San was in charge of the defence of Bandjermasin and his initial report indicated two mechanised divisions were trying to dislodge his infantry. Again the Americans were trying to invade a jungle with armoured forces. BB Division 2 was ordered to head east and sink the invading the fleet.​

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Admiral Nomura, who was taking charge of repairs to the Tokyo fleet, had been ordered to put to sea to sink two American ships that were off Tokyo Bay. He managed to sink them both but somehow he also allowed the IJN Tama to be sunk by the USS Pasadena. The USS Pasadena would sink to the guns of the Battlecruiser IJN Haruna while its sister ship, USS Vicksburg, sank to the guns of the Battleship Yamato.​

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At 0600 hours on December 30th yet another fleet tried to run BB Division 1's blockade of Rangoon. It fared no better than previous fleets that had tried the same thing. IJN Hyuga and IJN Yamashiro would sink one Transport Division apiece.​

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An overflight of the Madura Strait showed that the two American Transport divisions had a Submarine escort. This was nothing that worried Koga as he continued to steam east to try and intercept them.​

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By 0800 hours Aung San had inflicted significant damage to the two invading divisions and they would be forced to call of their attack before Koga arrived.​

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BB Division 2 arrived at 1800 hours and the Battleship IJN Nagato sank one of the two Transport Divisions which had lost their Submarine escort. On this occasion Koga was ordered to pursue the remaining Transport Division as it was known to contain enemy troops.​





2200 December 30th 1944.
North China Army Headquarters. Jinghong, China.

The New Year was rapidly approaching when Higashikuni received the last news of 1944 from his forces in India.​

dec30442200gr2.jpg

At 2200 hours on December 30th Lt. General Shokiro had occupied Dimapur province in East Bengal. British forces in Burma would require convoys to supply them from now on. The counter attack from the limited British forces in the area was easily repulsed with the enemy forces looking decidedly thin in this area. The airbase in Imphal was one of three the Allies possessed in Burma and it would need to be taken to reduce their chances of using aircraft in this area.​
 
Glad to see you:

A. Completed the blockade of the British in Siam

B. Assigned the first German ships to combat duty

C. finally managed to sink a Brazilian ship!!! (no matter how it was done)

Nice update.
 
Long time reader, first time commenting.

Congrats on isolating the Brits! I'm a huge fan.

Currently trying to repeat your German exploits. Lots of hard slogging and very stressful moments. How do you cope?

If you get an opportune moment with a spare fleet, basing off of Ceylon and raiding the mouth of the Red Sea will net some heavy catches.

Chipseal.
 
Nicely done in India. Will you rename the German ships or not?
 
Excellent work on completing that blockade.
 
Congratulations on cutting off the British in Burma. One more step towards victory.

Transporter-wise the British are real beginners. 5th Transporter Flotilla? The Americans have at least 118! I'm curious how many of them you have managed to sink this year.

The loss of the IJN Tama is sad but at least she took her role seriously and screened the caps and soaked up the damage for them. Though somehow I can't keep myself from thinking that her loss was either a bug or one of the sailors was smoking in the fuel chamber.
 
Is that the first IJN ship to be lost in action?
Non-sub, I mean.
 
Maj. von Mauser - Thank you. Brazilian ships must be made of something very resistant to shells and bombs.

Chipseal - Thank you. Playing any major country is all about logisitics and a fairly large amount of micro-management. So long as you can do both fairly well you can avoid a lot of the more stressful moments as you can see them coming and already have made plans to stop them. I checked the range of my ships and they can't quite reach the neck of the red sea but one fleet will be operating in this area.

harezmi - Thanks. Supplies were fairly significant for oil as there were a lot of aircraft and ships based there but only in the 1-2k range. Not too many supplies. The British were supplied by their minor Allies before I cut them off. Either Nepal of Bhutan would have supplied their forces. Their new supply depot is in the next update.

Lord Strange - Thank you. The former German ships will keep their names in honour of their fighting to date.

stnylan - Thank you.

Sokraates - Thanks. I was less than impressed when I lost the IJN Tama, it should have been a straight forward you lose type of battle. Your numbers are in the next update :)

ColossusCrusher - The first for some months. I lost a couple when I took Saipan.

Ok the next update is the annual one and it is huge. In all its four posts and covers just about anything you might want to know but it will take me a little to post it all :) ... update to follow ...

Edit: One thing I forgot to mention is the use of White Daimon's Sunk Ship calculator which can be found here .
 
Last edited:
Update (January 1st 1945)





0000 January 1st 1945.
Imperial Palace. Tokyo, Japan.

"Good morning your Highness, Gentlemen. Welcome to the New Year. The last six months have seen our great Nation reverse the tide of defeats against our forces and we are in a much stronger position now than we were then. Our main weakness is that we no longer have a powerful ally and we are fighting a large part of the World's more advanced Countries alone.

As you are no doubt aware, I have been running two Government departments for some considerable time and this is about to change. I have found a suitable replacement to fill my roll as Chief of Staff." Hideki began the meeting.​

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"Please welcome Minister Tanigawa, our new Chief of Staff."

"Good morning your Highness and Gentlemen. It is a great honour to be able to serve both the Emperor and Japan in my new capacity." said Tanigawa as he replied to the welcomes of the remainder of the Cabinet.

"Welcome Minister Tanigawa." said Hirohito.

"Your Majesty." replied Tanigawa with a bow.

"As I was saying." continued Hideki. "Minister Tanigawa specialises in recruitment and this should greatly improve the manpower available to our Armed Forces.

This being the first meeting of a new year the reports will be in more depth than normal. We will begin with Industry."

"Your Highness, Gentlemen. Good morning." Ginjiro began. "The replacement of the Prime Minister as Chief of Staff has caused a small amount of dissent amongst the populace and it will be my primary concern to reduce this with all spare production I can find."​

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"The result will be no reinforcements for front line forces for a few weeks as this situation is corrected. Several other priorities are also moving up the list of things I must consider, chief amongst these is the need to increase our merchant fleet to cover losses and to provide additional capacity for new troops that will begin arriving in February. Some reinforcements will resume once the dissent is removed but at a reduced rate to that which you are all used to. I will be ordering an additional five convoy fleets to be built continuously as well as two escort fleets. This will hamper our available industrial capacity until march when the new Destroyer Flotillas are finished.

My apologies Gentlemen but you are going to have to use the current version of our forces for some time as there is not likely to be any spare capacity for upgrades until after the new infantry are finished."

"We have survived this far Minister Ginjiro, I am sure we will make do." replied Tanigawa.

"That is somewhat reassuring Minister Tanigawa." replied Ginjiro. "Our Transport Capacity is also somewhat strained, caused mostly by partisan activity in what was China as well as the need to supply our forces in an ever growing area of operations.

Our stockpiles are adequate for four to five months of production at our current level. The capture of energy supplies in India would help this situation somewhat but talking to the Armed Forces Ministers this seems like a temporary capture in most cases. I am sure they will explain why during their updates. We have nothing spare with which to trade, for now, which puts us in a difficult position until out current production is complete or at least mostly complete.

We are producing the following:

15 x Infantry (1943 version).
3 x Destroyer Flotillas.
2 x Tactical Bomber squadrons.
3 x Convoy Transports.

The infantry is by far the largest use of resources and, having checked the numbers, it is likely that only three serials of these will be produced and not the four I had hoped for.

I am also trying to build up our supply stockpile somewhat as additional supplies are needed in India and Burma in order to prosecute that war. The need to produce so many supplies is hampering efforts elsewhere but our trades for oil and energy are too important to cancel to recover the supplies we are trading. We have a deficit in every other commodity for now so we cannot trade those materials.

Our base industrial level has increased by ten factories due to recent conquests in India and the continued repair of facilities in former China. The repairs in China are now complete so any further increases will have to come from conquests elsewhere. I think that is all from me for the moment." concluded Ginjiro.

"We need to repair things as soon as possible, with an ever increasing list of damaged ships in particular in port. I see your problems though so we must suffer somewhat in the short term for a longer term gain. Intelligence next please." said Hideki.

"Your Highness, Gentlemen, good morning. Some spare financing has been made available to me to begin recruiting agents both domestic and foreign. Hopefully further reports will become more accurate as this process continues." began Kuniaki. "I have brought with me a list of all of our research so far as well as the usual intelligence updates on our enemies or possible enemies."​

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"I will begin with the Soviet Union. Their industry is unchanged, but if these numbers are correct they have increased their infantry by almost 20% and their armour by 50% in the last month. This is possible as they have the largest industrial base of any Nation."​

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"The United Kingdom's industry has dropped by a base level of twelve factories all due to our conquests in India. I am also beginning to hear some rumours of a lack of certain rare materials but this has not had a noticable effect as of yet.

According to the numbers they lost over thirty infantry divisions and three armoured during December. Again these numbers are not going to be accurate but they have certainly lost some.

The Royal Air Force numbers are completely wrong as always as are the numbers of capital ships. They have not lost six Battleships and three Carriers during the last month. The loss of forty smaller ships is somewhat more believable but also likely to be off the mark."​

jan1450000intus.jpg

"United States intelligence is slightly more accurate than the British. No change to industrial base as far as we know.

A gain of five infantry divisions and loss of three armoured could be close to accurate as we have sunk some Transport vessels which could easily have been carrying these forces.

Double the Air Force to come closer to the real numbers but even this is probably too low.

The numbers say we sank two Battleships and one Carrier during December as well as eight smaller ships. According to the Imperial Japanese Navy the capital ship losses are correct but the smaller ships seems to be low unless they built a lot of new ships.

All things considered our current enemies are not getting any stronger except for their air forces. Their navies in particular are suffering horendous casualties that even they may not be able to replace in the future.

Moving on to research, I will go through each current path and explain some things in more detail once you have seen them all."​

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"Infantry"

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"Armour"

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"Airforce"

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"Navy"

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"Industry"​
 
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"Naval Doctrine"

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"Land Doctrine"

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"Air Doctrine"

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"Special Research"

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"Overview and current research topics​

The one thing that stands out more than anything is that we are behind our enemies in almost every area. The one exception is Air Doctrine where we have parity. Our new infantry will also be of similar calibre to that of the Allies but other than that we are outclassed.

We still have several blueprints to use to attempt to close the technology gap but we are behind in areas with no blueprints as well, most notably computers and encryption / decryption. All I can do is research priority topics as I have a team become available. It is likely to take several years to bring our entire Armed Forces and Industry up to par with our foes. Thats all for me." concluded Kuniaki.

"That is particularly depressing reading Minister Kuniaki." the Emperor said.

"Indeed it is your Majesty but there is little point trying to hide the situation." replied Kuniaki.

"See if you can speed your teams along a bit if possible, some of those gaps are very large indeed."

"I will do what I can your Majesty."

"On to Diplomacy if there is much to report." said Hideki.

"Nothing much at all. Good morning your Highness, Gentlemen." Mamoru began. "As has already been mentioned we are very limited in trade for the moment and with most of the World already against us there is little for me to monitor.

There is one area that I am keeping a very close watch on, that is the Soviet Union. I have been receiving several reports that the Allies are trying to pressurise the Soviets into attacking Japan. Whilst this is likely the Soviets are not about to allow anyone to push them around, especially not with the size of their Armed Forces. I do consider it likely that they might decide to attack us at some point but I have no idea when this might happen. It could be tomorrow or it could be next year. Nothing else to add." concluded Mamoru.

"Has anyone got any good news today or do I need to go back to bed?" asked Hirohito.

"Actually your Majesty I may have some slightly better news, particularly later in the Armed Forces briefings." said Tanigawa.

"I do believe your only one left other than Security. Minister Hakujiro has there been any change in Security?" asked Hideki.

"Nothing at all Prime Minister. The situation in China is the same with fairly high partisan activity, none of which has spilled over over into open revolt as of yet." said Hakujiro.

"Ok then, Armed Forces please." Hideki said.

"Your Highness, Gentlemen. Overall the last six months have gone extremely well militarily for Japan. We have had relatively few set backs with just the loss of some minor outlying islands and Burma. The situation in Burma is currently being corrected but will take several months to complete. Operation Dilemma seems to be going according to plan so far. I will hand you over to the Chief of the Army for a more detailed briefing on current operations." said Tanigawa.

"Good morning your Highness, Gentlemen." began Satoru. "As the Chief of Staff said we are doing well in most areas."​

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"The Pacific has seen almost no territorial change for several months now despite repeated attempts by the Allies to try and take one of the islands in the Marianas. We still have garrisons on Saipan, Guam and Palau and we hope to continue to do so. Should the Allies make a particularly determined attack against any of these islands they would probably take them. With this in mind our Pacific force commander, Admiral Yamamoto, has asked for an additional division to be added to all three garrisons. He would also like another four interceptor squadrons to try and halt the constant Strategic bombing."

"Where are they coming from, I am not producing any more aircraft and the infantry are not due for a while?" asked Ginjiro.

"The current plan is to strip three infantry divisions from the Philippines, which has seen no attempts to invade from our enemies. The extra interceptors will come from Iwo Jima where they have been conducting anti-shipping patrols. We will need to replace these four with two to continue our monitoring of the sealanes. One will come from Davao and one from the Indonesian patrols. A third squadron will also move to Ceylon to provide sealane patrol in that area. We will still have air cover over the same regions it will just be one squadron instead of two. The extra four interceptors should provide a rude awakening for the Allies when they try and bomb the area again.

There have been several signs of renewed American aggression in the Marianas with an ongoing invasion attempt which seems to be aimed at Tinian. With this in mind the four Naval bomber squadrons will be heading to Palau to provide a larger deterrant. They have been rested slightly in Saigon and are at almost full compliment again.

We still have no intention of sending a fleet to operate in this area other than the Submarines currently in theater. The loss of Tinian would not be a major problem as it has no airbase or port facility and is almost useless to our enemies. Losing any of the other three islands would probably signal the loss of the whole region which is why we are reinforcing them."

"I do not like the idea of weakening the Philippines but I dislike the possiblity of seeing Strategic bombers over Tokyo even more, so I approve of your latest plans." the Emperor stated.

"Thank you your Highness." replied Satoru. "Moving on to Asia."​

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"This map has changed a lot over the last six months with China being completely removed. The British hold all of Burma but we have invaded behind their lines in India. I will go into all of these areas in more depth beginning with the north."​

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"Nothing more than a minor build up has been detected in the north by Soviet forces. This leads me to believe that any invasion here is not imminent and is unlikely before the snows melt."​

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"In north western China nothing has changed lately. Our six infantry divisions are still eagerly awaiting the very slow moving British advance. They might eventually capture Aksu or Hotan and then realise they marched all that way for nothing, as their further advance is almost impossible without a sizeable force."​
 
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"With the isloation of Burma from a land supply route the British have apparently chosen Dhaka as their convoy supply base. It won't be theirs for very long as we have plans to capture it."​

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"On to our current plans for India. We have already established most of our planned position in the area. As you can see it is largely a defensive approach in India itself. We have also captured Ceylon and its rare material rich provinces. The main reasons for a defensive position are the lack of troops available and the fact that there is an Allied airbase in western India. As things stand we have almost complete air control over eastern India which will allow us to slowly bleed the enemy forces dry.

Darbhanga is required to prevent any envelopment of Ranchi and to provide a slightly more solid line. It may also be possible to advance into Kathmandu and remove the Nepalese from the War. Bhutan is almost certainly lost to the Allies and we may manage to capture some valuable resources once we capture it. We are also advancing into southern India to temporarily deny the British the resources of this area but it is doubtful that we can remain in control of that area without further forces.

The primary advance route is east into Burma. Our main objective in this entire region is to destroy the entire Allied force in Burma so that we can leave only a small garrison force and move the remaining forces north once we have achieved our aims. The airbase in Imphal is one of our current early objectives in the hope of possibly catching some enemy aircraft on the ground and to deny them the use of this valuable airbase.

All attacks in this area will be covered by our Tactical bomber wings stationed in Calcutta. These aircraft are likely to have to switch targets from east to west fairly frequently to contain any possible weakening of our defences in India. The defensive line is likely to be fluid but should hold with such support."​

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"Burma itself is still primarily a British hunting ground with them having numerical and technological superiority in most cases. As you can see from the map nearly all of our efforts are going to be concentrated in the weaker north to try and shrink the enemy controlled area and force them to move troops north, which in turn will weaken the south.

The divisions with red squares are primary air targets which need to be destroyed to allow our advance to move as swiftly as possible. The north western targets are covered by nine Tactical bombers in Calcutta, the north eastern by five Dive bomber squadrons and the southern by three Tactical bomber squadrons and two interceptor squadrons. We will almost definately have to start using interceptors with all attacking bombers as the area shrinks as the enemy aircraft will have less territory to defend.

You will also note one possible enemy advance in Siam. The province of Phitsanulok is fairly well defended but once all of the British forces are in the front line they may well attack it. If or when they do we will will withdraw east. Attacking this province will actually weaken the British position as it will open up all of the attacking divisions to air attack for a considerble time as they march across the mountains.

We have three infantry divisions on a Transport fleet that have just been re-embraked from Singora after defending that province. These three divisions were slated to reinforce India but are more likely to be used to invade one of the three provinces shown. The southern most province is a mountain and is therefore the primary target if the enemy leaves it unguarded.

The attack into Thom Buri is purely a diversion as it has only one defending division. We will attack and force it to retreat in the hope of provoking a response from our enemy.

This whole plan is not going to move along quickly. The entire region is slow going which is why it took the British so long to capture it in the first place. We estimate it could take as long as a year to completely control the entire area with most of the work completed inside five or six months.

That completes the round up of the current military position and I will update you on our current forces before handing you over to the other Chief's of Staff for their reports."​

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"The current state of ours and our Allies ground forces. Our forces have increased from 129 to 158 divisions some of which have come from our Allies as lent forces. When the new Cabinet took over we had a combined force of 145 divisions and we now have 165, an increase of 20 divisions. Most of these extra divisions were raised by us. We are producing at least another 45 infantry divisions at this time."​

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"A list of current Army commanders shows that the most skillful are all commanding a formation somewhere. Higashikuni is of course in charge of operations in Asia. Roughly half of these commanders are in control of headquarters divisions guarding remote areas."​

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"Our most experienced ground formations are all armoured and all with the same korps commanded by Lt. General Hoshinato in Xiaguan province. That is all from me and I will hand you over to the Chief of Staff of the Air Force." concluded Satoru.

"Thank you. Good morning your Highness and Gentlemen." began Jun. "The Imperial Japanese Air Force has been extremely active in all theaters for months now and is providing invaluable assitance in most areas. Our Naval bombers are almost single handedly keeping the United States Navy at bay which is allowing the Imperial Japanese Navy a free hand in the Indian Ocean."​

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"We have increased the size of the Air Force by three squadrons in total, all Tactical bombers. A further four are also being built. We have suffered no losses nor do we believe that we have shot down any enemy forces. Our Allies numbers remain unchanged and despite attempts to purchase the Siamese aircraft they refuse to allow us to do so."​

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"In a similar situation to the Army all bar one of our elite commanders are in use with active commands. Most of these are in control of bomber squadrons but some are commanding interceptor squadrons."​

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"Individual squadrons experience levels are highest amongst the bomber squadrons. This is mainly due to heavier losses to the interceptors as they try and attack enemy shipping which means higher replacements with newer pilots. The older Tactical bombers top this list with one interceptor squadron also on there. This squadron is carrying out naval patrols off Indonesia and is commanded by Mj. General Kato who is on the list of experienced commanders. I will now hand you over to the Chief of Staff for the Navy." concluded Jun.

"Your Highness, Gentlemen. Good morning." began Osami. "I have a lot of information for you today and I will begin with a round up similar to those just presented before going on to casualties for December and a report on total losses to date."​

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"The Imperial Japanese Navy has grown from 89 vessels to 138. This is mainly due to the addition of almost 50 U-boat Flotillas that chose to fight by our side when Germany fell. Four of these are due to arrive in a friendly port on January 2nd with the remainder not due for two to three months yet. All of these Submarines will need extensive repairs when they arrive. We have four extra Aircraft Carriers and are down nothing in all departments of the Navy. Most areas have shown a small increase."​
 
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"Yamamoto is our most experienced Naval leader as would be expected and he controls BB Division 1 currently blockading Rangoon. Three of the top four all have fleet commands with only Ozawa not actively controlling a naval force. He is commanding Naval bombers for now but is issuing orders to one of the Submarine Flotillas trying to make its way to Japan."​

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"All of the most experienced ships are in BB Division 1 which has had great success so far. The U-boats are almost all highly experienced and the two shown are just an example. That completes the current strength round up so now onto ships sunk in December."​

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"Regretably we lost four vessels during December of which two were home produced. The enemies losses were a lot higher as usual.

Japanese Losses

1 x Light Cruiser - IJN Tama.
3 x Submarine Flotillas - 6. Sensuikantai, 31 and 54. Unterseebootsflottille.

Brazilian Losses

2 x Transport Flotillas.

Canadian Losses

2 x Light Cruisers.

British Losses

6 x Light Cruisers.
4 x Destroyer Flotillas.
5 x Transport Flotillas.

American Losses

1 x Aircraft Carrier.
2 x Battleships.
3 x Light Cruisers.
7 x Destroyer Divisions.
15 x Transport Divisions.

Fifty one ships in all. The Americans suffered most with twenty eight ships sunk in all. The drain on our enemies continues almost unabated and a slightly different philosophy is now going to be adopted by the Imperial Japanese Navy.

The main three high seas fleets will be hunting Transport ships in particular. We reason that if we can sink them all, or nearly all of them, then the risk of any invasion will reduce to almost nil. Yamamoto will keep BB Division 1 off Rangoon as it is likely to be highly visited by such vessels and we must keep the enemy forces down in Burma or we will not be able to defeat them. Carrier Group C will hunt off southern India and BB Division 2 will continue to operate around Indonesia. Our Naval bombers will be looking for any such ships around the Marianas and anywhere they can reach in relative safety.

The repairing fleet in Tokyo will be tasked with trying to stop any Submarine activity along our trade routes. Our anti-submarine capabilites are not good at all but they will do what they can until such time as we can research what we need.

We will still refuse just about any major naval combat between opposing Battlefleets unless it is highly advantageous to us.

The main reason for the slight change in operations is the overall losses suffered in the last six months."​

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"This shows the total kills of all Navys. We suspect the missing Country in the list is Canada. Please note these are only navy to navy losses and do not include aircraft losses. A large part of the ships sunk by our enemies are German vessels so those numbers are not too accurate in terms of our ships lost which will be covered next. You will notice that the Imperial Japanese Navy has sunk a very large amount of light shipping with a significant number of Transport fleets. Not many capital ships have been sunk by ships from any nation."​

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"This shows losses by Country. We have lost a total of thirteen ships. The United Kingdom have lost more than four times that number and the United States nearly ten times as many. Of particular note are the amount of Transport fleets sunk. This is the main reason why we are going to concentrate on sinking this type of vessel. These numbers only show part of the picture."​

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"Another 56 ships have been sunk by our aircraft including 28 more Transport fleets. This brings the total number of sunk Transport fleets to 126 for all Allied Navys. We still believe there are a lot more but we have made a very large dent in their numbers. Seven Carriers and five Battleships have also been sunk by our aircraft which is considerably more than the Imperial Japanese Navy have managed. This is entirely due to our current doctrine which avoids major ship battles."​

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"Looking at the most dangerous ships afloat we see that both Battleships and Carriers are dominated by Japanese ships. It is also worth pointing out that the Carriers have only recently started sinking ships as they have been in Tokyo awaiting new ships for almost the entire time. Not surprisingly Yamamoto's Flagship, the IJN Yamashiro heads this list by some considerable margin with the IJN Zuikaku leading the Carriers. There is only one enemy ship in either list, the French Carrier Bearn, and its sinkings were all German."​

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"One final report totals the lost convoys and escorts. We have not been actively hunting enemy convoys and so have sunk none but we have lost a large portion of the 94 convoys sunk, although some would have been German. That is all from me." concluded Osami.

"That is a particularly distressing number of ships if you are analysing those numbers from our enemies point of view." said Hirohito.

"Indeed it is your Majesty." replied Osami.

"Militarily we are on course and possibly ahead in the Naval war, although our enemies can easily out produce us. Let us all hope that the Soviet Union decides to resist the advances of our enemies and remains neutral for some considerable time to come." said Hitohito as he stood and left thus ending the meeting.​