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Remble said:
Admiral Spruance had run out of luck a long time ago and he would find himself on the receiving end of another encounter with the Imperial Japanese Navy. He was unlucky enough to meet the strongest Battlefleet at sea.
Ozawa and BB Division 1 more or less ran him over during their transit south towards Hollandia. Spruance could have been conducting an invasion towards Ngulu when he was unfortunate enough to be found. Whatever he was doing in the Yap Channel quickly ended when the Battlecruiser IJN Kongo and Battleship IJN Yamashiro sank the ships he had been commanding.

"Sir, we have finished to fish survivors out of the sea. It seems we managed to capture the enemy Admiral!"
"Again?"
"Yes, Sir, again. It´s Admiral Spruance. What shall we do with him?"
"Send him back asap. He is the best help the USN offers us."


I am looking forward to see the Pacific War when the Japanese Air Force left to fight the Reds.
 
Spruance is a loser.

Anyways, things sound odd there with the Soviets, maybe they just are sick of your tea.....
 
So much for the Americans capturing Guadalcanal. :p

By the way, Remble, how far east into the Pacific do you plan on going? The answer might be obvious, but is still worth asking.

Maj. von Mauser said:
Anyways, things sound odd there with the Soviets, maybe they just are sick of your tea.....

Well...try sake next time. Oh, wait. Sake can get you drunk. Is a drunk Soviet ambassador a good idea?
 
HannibalBarca - Almost yes. It is a shame that Australia is in the Allied camp really as it is never well defended as a result.

germanpeon - I shall have to try and engineer a quiz so that you can win. Operation Ominous has a nice ring to it :)

stnylan - I was stunned they didn't DoW in 1945 to be honest. I do not expect them to remain quiet for much longer for reasons in the update.

Chipseal, Panzer6 - The Soviets are always entertaining. As long as they leave my tea supplies alone I will try and be 'nice' to them, but if they threaten that vital supply I will turn more brutal :) Panzer6 is correct on manpower and you are correct that it is going to be big problem if I get dragged into massive ground battles.

BobaFett696 - Thank you and welcome to the AAR and the forums if it hasn't already been said. (My apologies but I don't keep a list of people reading this AAR and I may miss some things now and again)

Fgorginator - We had better hope the Russian airforce can't stop me or it will become very painful.

robou - I think they have been caught out by the speed of the advance. The AI doesn't handle being walked all over very well. thatguy is correct about the manpower which does make things much harder for me which is a good thing.

Sokraates - Naval warfare is certainly time consuming, I look forward to some less strenuous land combat myself. A shame that it means I will have to control both at once though. Oh and your Operation is in the next update :)

Thurak - Oh I think if they did find Spruance he wouldn't be going home. He was in command of the fleet that resulted in the death of Yamamoto. Funny though :D

Maj. von Mauser - I think you can safely say that the Soviets are coming.

Nathan Madien - Current plans are the Marshalls, Attu and everything in the south with a base, which means Fiji.

Reado - The Soviet Ambassador prefers vodka as he has already stated he just drinks tea on a diplomatic level :)

Update to follow which includes requested information as well as a small problem that has cropped up, oh and a secret operation because you have missed those ...

Note: I have caught up to my latest save so I have to actually play a bit to get more material, as a result there might not be an update thursday, depending on how far I get.
 
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Update (March 1st 1946)





0000 March 1st 1946.
Imperial Palace. Tokyo, Japan.

"Your Majesty, Gentlemen, good morning." Hideki started the meeting. "February saw yet more advances by our Armed Forces with the Japanese economy growing stronger. We will begin the briefings today with Industry."

"Prime Minster I would like to provide my report first if it pleases His Majesty." Kuniaki interupted.

"You have something important to bring to My attention it seems Minister Kuniaki." Hirohito stated.

"That I do your Majesty."

"I am sure Minister Ginjiro will not mind waiting for a few minutes."

"Of course not your Majesty." Ginjiro replied.

"Thank you your Majesty. Just over a week ago my agents began reporting a large number of troop movements throughout the Soviet Union. They could not provide me with the knowledge of their destinations, only that they were moving in great numbers."

"You are certain Minister Kuniaki?" asked the Emperor.

"Yes your Majesty. I had my agents verify their reports and they were consistant." replied Kuniaki.

"I take it the general direction these troops are moving is East?"

"That is correct your Majesty."

"What is your estimate on the number of troops heading our way Minister Kuniaki." asked Tanigawa.​

mar1460000intsov.jpg

"I can only provide an estimate Minister Tanigawa. Comparing the number from last month to this I would say approximately four hundred divisions."

The silence would be broken by the Emperor who was never at a loss for words in these circumstances. "Excellent. This means we will not have to hunt them down one by one as they will be close by."

The Emperor may have seemed confident but His Armed Forces Ministers were not quite so happy to hear this news. They would be the ones responsible for carrying out Hirohito's orders and they were in no doubt just how much of a threat the Red Army could be to Japan.

"Relax Gentlemen. Minister Mamoru would you say that this increases the chances of the Soviets attacking us in the near future?." Hirohito asked.

"Quite possibly your Majesty. I would expect it to take several weeks for these troops to move across the Soviet Union and we will probably receive a further warning of any impending attack through Diplomatic channels." Mamuro replied.

"Trade?" Hirohito asked.

"Yes your Majesty. I would be surprised if they attacked without cancelling their existing trades with us first." Mamoru replied.

"We will need to know that as soon as it happens. Please continue Minister Kuniaki." stated Hirohito.

"Yes your Majesty. Other than the massed movement of Soviet troops the remainder of their forces are unchanged. Their production is the same and they completed research into an improved version of Field Artillery."​

mar1460000intuk.jpg

"The United Kingdom continues to struggle with its Industry and they made three technological breakthroughs in February. The two we know are an improved Radar system and Heavy Cruiser design.

There has been an increase of thirteen infantry divisions which is most likely to be from their colonies. The Royal Air Force numbers are lower and could be due to losses in the Pacific as we took airbases or they could just be a random report problem.

The Royal Navy remains almost unchanged."​

mar1460000intus.jpg

"Production is stable in the United States. They completed research into a better Light Cruiser model.

Their ground forces are slightly lower due to losses in the Pacific and both parts of the United States Air Force could have sustained some losses in the Pacific.

The United States Navy shows a loss of one Battleship, their last, and two Aircraft Carriers. These reports tally with our own estimates."

"It is nice to see that their gun ships have been removed." Hirohito remarked.

"Thank you your Majesty." replied Tanigawa on behalf of the Armed Forces Ministers.

"Moving on, their small ship numbers increased slightly which is certainly possible given their production capacity." Kuniaki continued.​

mar1460000intjap.jpg

"We completed one research project which was a Practical Turbojet Engine. I will try and update all of our airforce components with this technology as soon as possible.

March should see us complete research in to at least two more projects and I will concentrate on Industrial research once these are done. Nothing further." Kuniaki concluded.

"I trust you have no surprises for us Minister Ginjiro." asked Hideki.

"No prime Minister, Industry is ticking along nicely." Ginjiro replied. "Good morning your Majesty, Gentlemen."​

mar1460000prod.jpg

"The Japanese Transport system is more heavily overloaded due to an increase in partisan activity as we advance across Australia, as well as an increase in supplies needed to prosecute this advance and others. There is a research path that we can take to increase our transport abilities and Minister Kuniaki will start that as soon as he can.

Our Industrial Capacity is the same but should begin to increase as factory complexes are repaired in Australia. Resources have also improved as we captured the Australian capital and we should gain even more from them as we advance further. Needless to say should the Soviets cancel their trades with us then our energy position will begin to deteriorate rapidly."

"I am already looking for alternative suppliers your Majesty." Mamoru interjected.

"Good we will need them." Hirohito replied.

"Manpower remains a concern with little that we can do to increase the number of recruits we can obtain. I would like to suspend the plans to raise garrison divisions until such time as we know the sort of casualty rates we will have in a ground war with the Red Army." Ginijro continued.

"Granted." Hirohito stated.

"Thank you your Majesty. There has been no change to production but our supply needs continue to drop as trades are re-negotiated. Our reinforcement needs have also dropped considerably with much of the Imperial Japanese Navy repaired. We still have more than eightly units to upgrade with our Interceptors in particular requiring several upgrades once our research completes in that area. Most of our ground forces should be up to 1943 standards before the end of May. That is all from me for today." Ginjiro concluded.

"That seems like a reasonable time frame. Gentlemen, if the Soviets do not decide to come out to play then we shall invite them to the party on June 1st. Please make sure you are ready in all respects by that date." Hirohito stated.

"As you wish your Majesty." Tanigawa replied.

"Oh and while I remember. I wish to see the Armed Forces Ministers after this meeting. I have formulated a plan that you Gentlemen will be required to fill in the details on. I will even provide you with a name for this operation."

"Your Majesty?" asked Tanigawa.

"Operation Mystery is what we shall call it and it is to remain that way until its completion." the Emperor said. "The main reason for secrecy is the mere fact that this particular operation is what I would call highly dangerous, but the rewards are such that an attempt must be made."

"Your Majesty our forces are stretched with current operations and we do need to prepare for the Red Army." replied Tanigawa.

"I am well aware of the facts Minister Tanigawa. I would hate to see our Armed Forces grow bored with inactivity. I am sure you Gentlemen can manage." the Emperor stated in a tone that ended the conversation immediately.

"Moving on to Diplomacy." Prime Minister Hideki quickly added.

"Your Majesty, Gentlemen. Good morning. Diplomacy remains fairly stable with the standard losses to our trades due to interdiction by enemy forces. These continue to drop off as we advance east across the Pacific." Mamoru began.​

mar1460000manch.jpg

"The only other thing I wish to add today is the current research of our puppets. Manchukuo is coming along well and they are actually closing on our own technology in some areas. They already produce infantry the equal of our own in equipment. Our other two puppets are stuck in the mire that is Land Doctrine which we can not help them with as they use a different approach. Nothing further." Mamoru concluded.​
 
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"Armed Forces last today then please."

"Thank you Prime Minister. Your Majesty, Gentlemen. The Pacific remains our only operational Front and we are advancing easily at this time. The United States Navy can still provide some problems for us but nothing like the trouble it could have caused months ago. Our main targets remain Australia and enemy bases in the central Pacific. India is quiet but with some build up of enemy troops along the border with Persia. So far there is no sign of any Soviet build up but I think we can safely assume that this is going to change dramatically. I will hand you over to Minister Satoru to provide more details." Tanigawa concluded.

"Thank you Minister Tanigawa. Good morning your Majesty, Gentlemen." Satoru began. "I will begin with the west today."​

mar1460000yemen.jpg

"Much to our surprise we still hold Yemen. While this provides us with additional resources it is also costing us convoy capacity as the route is being bombed rigourously by our enemies."​

mar1460000ind.jpg

"The build up in Persia is reaching the point where another attack may be forthcoming. We shall deal with it in the same manner as before by an initial withdrawal followed by a major bombing campaign to destroy the enemy troops in the open terrain."​

mar1460000pac.jpg

"This large map of the Pacific shows the current areas we wish to contend for in the Solomons and Bismarck Archipelago as well as future targets to the south. We have completed the capture of all islands in the Carolines and are now attacking towards Bougainville and Guadalcanal which are lightly our undefended. We will then turn our attention to the much more heavily defended Admiralty Island and New Ireland. We already know our techniques work for these types of island and we do not anticipate much delay in this area.

The forces in Australia will be used for New Zealand, the provinces required to force them to surrender are shown, and probably Vanua Levu in the Fiji islands. Depending on what His Majesty has planned may determine other operations, but we shall also secure the Marshall Islands before any further enemy troops arrive to make it more than a routine clearance. We do not expect any major enemy fleet activity to halt these plans but it is possible given their Carrier numbers."​

mar1460000aus.jpg

"Australia is going slightly slower than we would like but it should speed up now that the Tactical bombers are being used. Two Transport fleets will be utilised from now on to try and increase the speed of the collapse of Australia. Again the required provinces we need to control for them to surrender are shown. Of these only Perth is currently garrisoned but our troops in Canberra need to rest before advancing from there. Australia should cease to exist before the end of March unless something major happens to alter this position."​

mar1460000mars.jpg

"The current situation in the Marshalls could destabalise if an enemy fleet were to arrive along with further enemy troops. We will need to secure this area fairly soon."​

mar1460000solo.jpg

"A more detailed map of the operational area around the Solomons shows our forces already attacking Bougainville and towards Guadalcanal. That combat has only just begun and will be briefed on later. As we can see, the only major enemy troop concentrations are in the north and we have plans to remove them in short order. Close Air Support aircraft are adept at killing moving troops and we shall be encouraging these troops to move as much as we can. BB Division 1 will also arrive in this area within hours to add yet more firepower. That is all from me so I will hand you over to Minister Osami for the Naval briefing." Satoru concluded.

"Thank you Minister Satoru. Your Majesty, Gentlemen." Osami began. "Naval combat has been fairly light but we have seen the sinking of more of the United States Navy capital ships as they tried to intervene in operations. We did suffer some losses of our own."​

mar1460000sunk.jpg

"Losses are as follows:

Japanese Losses

4 x Submarine Flotillas - 11, 21, 41 and 57. Unterseebootsflottilles.

Australian Losses

2 x Destroyer Flotillas.

Canadian Losses

1 x Destroyer Flotilla.
1 x Transport Flotilla.

American Losses

2 x Aircraft Carriers.
1 x Battleship.
1 x Light Carrier.
1 x Light Cruiser.
1 x Submarine Division.
5 x Destroyer Divisions.
7 x Transport Divisions.

Twenty Six in all mostly United States as normal. We are keeping their smaller ships under control which is preventing them from reinforcing any area with speed. We will continue to try and sink anything we find whilst we have air support. The Imperial Japanese Navy will be re-configured as we advance to provide some smaller cruiser fleets to patrol some areas. We will likely switch to one major Surface Action Group at this time and continue to run two Carrier Groups. Should all of our current plans be completed in our favour then we will have a very large amount of ocean to defend while we are busy with the Soviets."

"I have thought on this Minister Osami and it is one of the reasons I wish to see you Gentlemen after the meeting." stated Hirohito.

"I have one more report for you today. This shows the current state of the Imperial Japanese Navy."​

mar1460000dam.jpg

"The vast majority of our vessels have been repaired with only a few showing any major damage. Most of the damage is to Submarines with the Battleship IJN Musashi being the most badly damaged capital ship, but she is more than capable of fighting. Nothing further." Osami concluded.

"Good progress Gentlemen. We all know what we must do to remain in a decent position." Hirohito stated as he stood and left the meeting followed by some rather wary Armed Forces Ministers.​
 
alan_le_cowboy said:
A new secret operation? Great!

Manchukuo as severe resources problem. Will you transfer some resources? 3 IC is very low, even not enough to maintain dissent and supplies...
Oops ... thats due to reload, their IC is fine normally ;)
 
Excellent, i wonder what the emperor has planned? Just one thing, won't concentrating on the Soveits give the Americans considerable breathing room to rebuild their fleet?
 
cjwet said:
I wonder that you research the next interceptor modell, what do you want to intercept, when the allies has no airbases to reach important areas.
IMO the Manpower tech and 45-Hospital is more important.

Air superiority is not an issue... for the moment.
It can become an issue soon as:
- island hoping can bring Japan army close to Midway and Pearl Harbour where I'm sure USA has planes
- war seems to be close with SOV and Japan needs to have a clear sky for TAC / CAS
- USA has already searched recent air technologies
 
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robou said:
Excellent, i wonder what the emperor has planned? Just one thing, won't concentrating on the Soveits give the Americans considerable breathing room to rebuild their fleet?

It will a small bit, but Remble pays so much attention to everything that it won't be too much trouble. Plus, he can't advance much farther as he has little time (preparing ground for USSR) and most of the important islands are already captured. Plus enemy fleets will most likely to try to regain islands so he'll wipe them out then.

robou said:
I wonder that you research the next interceptor modell, what do you want to intercept, when the allies has no airbases to reach important areas.
IMO the Manpower tech and 45-Hospital is more important.

To continue off alan_le_cowboy:
The importance of upgrading his airforce is so he will take less losses in both air-sea battles and air-air battles. As he has little manpower and manpoer income, saving as much MP as possible is vital.
 
Just caught up again... You're still doing fine as per usual... ;)
 
First one small suggestion. A good way to deal with the convoy attack problem around Yemen is to cancel the convoy and switch to no automatic resource convoys. Let the stockpiles build up a bit and then manually set up a very large convoy for one day. The success of enemy bombing of convoys is unlikely to be affected by the size and this generally results in much smaller long-term losses. AND this isn't an exploit since it is the basic idea of the convoy system as a method of commerce defence.

BUT onto more important things. It is a bit late to be saying this (I did write this post a few days ago and had the Forum congestion destroy it, this is the first chance I have had to rewrite). I am rather concerned about your approach to the Soviet Union as a cordon defence is exactly what the AI is set up to deal with. Given the odds I can see severe problems with the Soviet Union. Now before reading the rest just consider that I am known as a fan of extreme strategies and the phrase "Your a nutter" have been used more than once over the years.

If it was me I would have seriously considered a strategy of massing the entire Japanese army in western China and on DOW launch a massive attack into central Asia and then northerwards aiming for northern Siberia. I would leave most of the rest of the front completely undefended as it contains very little of any great importance. The best time to attack is after the Soviets launch their strategic redeployment but before their troops arrive. Occupying their target provinces (and adjacent ones) will make sure their troops are bounced back to where they came from and cause double damage to their TC without contributing much to the battle.

The keep operational technique in this would be rapid occupation of large areas so that there is plenty of space to give up to advancing Soviet forces without causing the encirclement to fail.

If Siberia is formed into a massive pocket then a little convoy warfare (there will be a supply convoy to Vladivostok) will put them totally out of supply and after a few weeks the tiniest of armies can advance and occupy the whole area. The most important element is to complete the operation before the Soviets can concentrate against your main force. Extra space is effective at delaying this, as long as the front line is moving the Soviet SR moves are going to be to the wrong place. If your timing is good then a vast army of SRed Russians will appear inside the pocket zone when you are half way to closing it.

Now I don't know if such a plan is truly viable as I haven't really examined the situation in detail. In my Fatherland AAR I was quite comfortable with odds of 1:6 against the Soviets but with a very large mobile force. Airpower issues mean that you need to keep away from major airbase groupings but I don't see this as a big problem.

Fortune favours the brave but punishes the foolhardy​

I don't know which applies here.
 
A Mystery - if one is true to form it will be something amphibious.
 
Look forward to the briefing of the COS. :cool:
 
robou, Panzer6 - The USN will have a chance to rebuild yes. Unfortunately it is AI controlled and will probably not just sit off the west coast of the USA and wait.

cjwet, Panzer6, alan_le_cowboy - In addition to the very valid answers already given as to why I am researching the next INT tech it is because I have two upgrades available already. The two Special INT techs are a burden more than a help and it is almost pointless for me to just upgrade to those levels. So I will get to the next main upgrade and then do all three at once. The two intermediate INT techs reduce the range so much that I would not be able to use INT's in the Pacific at all.

Your two suggestions are also very important are will be in the next round of research :)

Murmurandus - Thanks. I knew mentioning another secret project would force you out of the woodwork :D

Kanitatlan - I hate managing convoys but your right of course. Cancelling it works well enough.

Your plan is one of those I did consider but I decided to deal with the Pacific first while the Soviets were happy to sort out my trade imbalances. My version was not as extreme as yours but the direction was similar. Too late now to try it of course as the Red horde is already on the move. I only have a total of 6 armour as well, which makes this type of manouver extremely difficult to achieve, and when you add snow as well it makes it even less appealing.

Static defence is the way the AI likes to fight and I will happily try and beat it at its own game. Not sure how long it will take 16 CAS and 16 TAC to destroy 500+ divisions but we may just find that out :)

Thurak, stnylan - This secret operation will not even allow me to rule out any plan, it will remain completely secret until its objective is achieved or it fails. Both of those outcomes are possible on this occasion.

I Killed Kenny - June 1st is a fair ways off and I highly doubt that I will be making any DoW's. 400+ Soviet divisions don't just up and move if the AI isn't going to use them.

Maj. von Mauser - They will be silent for some time I expect. Operation Mystery is not likely to begin soon as there are a few things needed first.

No update today as I had to play a little way ahead to get more material. Update as normal tomorrow :)