The Setting Sun - Gotterdammerung, Japan 1944.

[I Killed Kenny]

We are on March 1st.
Are remaining March, April, May.

I thought we were in may 1st, not march :wacko:

 

[Kanitatlan]

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

Assuming the persistence of good conditions (which won't happen) about 18 months. My Fatherland airforce never seems to have got much beyond about 50 a month but that is partly due to congestion. Your airforce is a lot smaller and you may have to give up a great deal of ground to keep the enemy moving.

 

[safferli]

Why do the US have so few carriers? You destroyed a few, but in my games they'll have something in the 20s-30s by now! And they also have so few land units... is this because of the starting date? That they didn't have time to build up sufficient forces?

 

[Murmurandus]

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

...

Heh... No comment...

 

[Pwn*Star]

The Soviets may have decided to continue on a path of pacifism, and have disbanded most of their armed forces? Is it too much to hope for?

 

[unmerged(58104)]

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.

I hope Hirohito's latest idea isn't the taking of Pearl.
I doubt you really need even more islands to defend, certainly since in the case of Hawaii you'll need to occupy each and every island since the AI loves to land on the Hawaiian islands, especially the ones without airport/harbor.

How many divisions is the Pacific costing you, once you've redeployed the troops to be used in other theatres? Wouldn't suprise me if that's more than a quarter of your landforces.

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.

Although this sounds good in theory, I don't think it would work in reality;
- I don't know for sure if the AI is going to be out of supply if you encircle such a massive amount of provinces? Wouldn't the AI be able to supply it's forces without convoys etc?
- From Western China (former Siankang) it's probably about a year's march with infantry to the most Northern 0/20% provinces. At least, that's my guess as I never take those provinces, even if that means leaving a Northern flank open from Archangelsk to the Pacific.
If that's correct, that would mean Remble wouldn't have an enemy out of supply in Siberia untill summer of '47.
- Wouldn't Mongolia supply the Soviet forces in the Far East, even if Remble somehow would manage to close that pocket fast?

Although I do think that you're correct in suggesting Remble would place the majority of his army in Western China; IMHO there's nothing in the Far East valuable apart from a few airbases, a ring around the minor puppets, Vladi and as many Soviet units as possible to be killed around Vladivostock.

OTOH, within two weeks marching from (former) Sinkiang there are heaps of IC, manpower and resources.
So I would definitely have placed the armor Remble has here, not in the Far East.

I also think that it's quite likely that if Remble didn't station too many troops in the Far East, the Soviet AI also wouldn't. (Isn't this a tactic you yourself did when opposing Barbarossa in one of your AARs?) It wouldn't suprise me if that's why Remble has stationed most of his troops one province behind the front.

 

[Pwn*Star]

I think he put the troops behind the frontline, so he would have time to bomb the soviets before they meet his army. I dont think stacking troops near someones border affects them, atleast as long as they are not played by humans.

 

[Timmie0307]

Nice work so far, for the glory of the Emperor of Greater Nippon!

Please plan an invasion of the USA or something like that, it would be very nice...
Even more nice invade Switzerland, that would be the best for the current situation lots of manpower, and your partisan level will be reduced with all de Swiss Chocolate and other gifts

Tim

 

[Sokraates]

Hirohito is turning into the Chuck Norris of his time. Now he only needs to turn his two liners into one-liners and they wil go down into history (and will probably make great ringtones in 60 years' time, but that's beside the point).

I'm feeling honoured to be the source of the name of this upcomign operation. One that the Emperor himself has devised! So, does this make me the operation's godfather?

Good luck with your Pacific conquests until June. Do you plan to ship the divisions involved in the current campaign back, so that they will be available at the Soviet border on June 1st or will they support the current forces afterwards? The first option would shorten the campaign by 1 month minimum.

 

[I Killed Kenny]

Well, seeing that the plans for a conquest of the south pacific are already made and the SOV will only be attacked in June... I bet he'll go and attack South Africa, in one month and with 10 or so infantary he can annex it and there will one less airforce to bug is TAC's

 

[unmerged(3435)]

I also think that it's quite likely that if Remble didn't station too many troops in the Far East, the Soviet AI also wouldn't. (Isn't this a tactic you yourself did when opposing Barbarossa in one of your AARs?)

There's another problem... not really difficult for Remble but hard to write up realistically. Being programmed to maintain a fairly equal front line along the entire border the Soviet AI will try to march huge numbers of troops up to the far north and then east into Siberia (possibly into a pocket) rather than standing and fighting...

 

[unmerged(59906)]

Kanitatlan - 18 months to 2 years would seem a reasonable amount of time. I might build 8 more TAC's when I can to try and speed things up.

safferli - The US starts with around 12 in 1944 and I have sunk a lot them. I have no doubt that they are building at least 10 and probably a lot more.

Pwn*Star - That would be very nice of them

Timmie0307 - Thank you. Unfortunately I only have one big army and it will be battling the Red Army in the next few months.

Sokraates - I am afraid the Emperor has no idea who you are as He devised the name all by himself If you wish to be the operations Godfather than you can expect to be brought to justice should the highly dangerous mission fail, of course you would get the applause if it works I will fight the Soviets with the forces I have in Asia at the moment. I might have some free troops after Operation Mystery.

I Killed Kenny - I will attack on June 1st correct. Stalin might not be prepared to wait that long.

Jon Young - The Soviet AI can march almost anywhere it wants, I cannot stop it, just slow it and make it bleed the whole time its moving. This is going to be painful no matter what I do. You can expect quite a lot of retreat on contact type of moves.

GoforitPanzer - Operation Mystery will remain so and I will explain the whole concept behind it when its over.

Mongolia would supply the Soviets in Siberia so I would have to take it as well.

I did place my troops away from the Front to make the AI think I had nothing threatening there yes. The area north of Sinkiang is very nice for resources.

The reason why I do not have my armour in Sinkiang is because I need to protect my puppets, Manchukuo in particular. Armour is a good number leveler. I also want the Soviets to attack north west China as the terrain is absolutely awful and there is nothing of any worth there to protect. There are airbases east of this area which I can use to torture the slower moving Soviet troops as they try and slog through this territory. I will almost certainly lose the one base I have in that area but its not that big a loss.

Allowing the Soviets into China also forces them to invade northern India which brings them in to ideal bomber territory and it is very likely that the British will attack once the Soviets do. This gives my airforce a lot of easy to kill targets for quite some time.

For anyone who was wondering I intend to put 8 TAC in India, 8 TAC in Korea, 8 CAS in north west China and the remaining 8 CAS as close to Mongolia as I can get in the center. Two INT wings will be in Manchukuo and one in India. They won't stop the Red Army but they will hurt them. Over time they can kill any army, I just need to give them that time.

Update to follow as Operation Obsolete continues ...

 

[unmerged(59906)]

Operation Obsolete

7​

0000 March 1st 1946.
North China Army Headquarters. Lanzhou, China.

Orders had arrived from High Command for Higashikuni to move his troops to their forward operating positions. A similar set of orders had been sent to Field Marshall Terauchi commanding the Kwantung Army.​

Twenty nine Japanese divisions began marching north towards the border with Mongolia in preparation for what was certain to come.​

0100 March 1st 1946.
BB Division 1 Flagship. IJN Yamashiro, In Transit.

Ozawa was due to arrive in the Ysabel Channel off Admiralty Island in a few hours but was still well informed of the progress throughout the Pacific.​

Lt. General Kawabe led five divisions during the assualt of Bougainville in the Solomons. A thunderstorm had started almost as soon as the attack began which would make conditions much more difficult for the Japanese forces. It would take over twenty four hours to subdue the single garrison division defending the island even with BB Division 2 in support.​

Eleven Dive bombers had taken off from their new base on Rabaul and would spend the next few days bombing the enemy troops trying to move from Admiralty Island to New Ireland. Ozawa would keep BB Division 1 moving to allow these troops the false hope of actually reaching their destination.​

A certain amount of speed was required to conclude current operations as swiftly as possible. The latest orders from High Command had not been much to Ozawa's liking but he had no choice but to obey, this meant concluding operations in Australia as quickly as he could.

The two divisions that had captured Canberra were embarked by Admiral Mikawa who ordered his fleet west towards Adelaide. Hopefully the province would not be defended.​

Imamura captured Guadalcanal at 2000 hours on March 1st as battle still raged in Bougainville. The marines would not be staying put for very long as their Transport fleet was already on its way into the harbour.​

Allied forces continued to try and reinforce the Marshall Islands with the latest fleet to be spotted being Brazilian. Ichimaru and Genda would have to wait until the next day to inflict serious damage on the two Flotillas present.​

1. Kaigun was ordered to split its Transport fleet to allow dual invasions by the marines in Guadalcanal. They were protected by BB Divsion 2 which could stop anything but a major enemy force from causing the Transports any harm.​

Nagano received similar orders for Carrier Group C at 1500 hours on March 2nd. He had moved his fleet north to Brisbane so that it could operate further south. The Heavy Cruisers and several escorting Flotillas were spilt off from the Carriers, and would head to Rabaul to provide a smaller anti-shipping force, which could more effectively deal with enemy fleets than Carrier Group D.​

Japanese Naval bombers returned to the Brazilian fleet in the Central Marshalls at dawn only to find that they had already dropped their armoured division off on Bikini Island. Neither Brazilian flotilla would get far.​

Kawabe captured Bougainville as the two marine divisions of Imamura and Banzai began dual invasions in the southern Solomon Islands. These smaller islands had to be captured before they could be reinforced by enemy troops.​

 

[unmerged(59906)]

The single Transport Division that had been seeking refuge in Bougainville ran into BB Division 2 in The Slot at 0300 hours on March 3rd. A thunderstorm would prevent an accurate picture of which ship had fired the fatal shots that sank the enemy vessels.​

Two Australian divisions had appeared either side of Canberra in the south of the Country. Nine Tactical bombers operating out of Brisbane would have some work to do to prevent these forces from re-taking the Australian capital.​

Mikawa's fleet arrived off the coast of Adelaide at 1000 hours on March 4th to find it totally undefended. The invasion began immediately as the Tactical bombers finished off the second enemy division which was in Melbourne.​

By 0400 hours on March 5th both marine divisions were ashore and began to head towards the harbours of their respective islands to repeat the process of dual invasion to the north.​

Despite heavy rain and jungle the Dive bombers had removed one enemy division from Admiralty Island and started on a second that was trying to move across the strait towards New Ireland.​

Admiral Kaga had already picked up the three divisions from Buka Island and dropped them off in Rabaul, and now headed for Bougainville for another ferrying mission. One of the two divisions would be used to defend Guadalcanal to the south.​

At midnight on March 6th seven Interceptor squadrons had arrived over Rabaul from their base in Lae. The two Columbian Tactical bombers that had been harassing the defenders of the province would not bother anyone again.​

With Canberra now secure the single Japanese division in Newcastle headed towards the current Australian capital of Sydney after a short period of recovery.​

A second Transport fleet, commanded by Admiral Kato, had been made available for operations in Australia and it had embarked two divisions from Wyndham before heading towards BB Division 3 which would escort it further south.​

The rapid advance across southern Australia continued as the province of Adelaide was captured at 1900 hours on March 6th. One division would remain to defend the province while the second headed south onboard Mikawa's fleet to invade Melbourne. There was still no sign of the Australian divisions around Perth moving which could mean a delay in the operations elsewhere.​

 

[Nathan Madien]

I guess the Australians are making a last stand in Perth or something. Perhaps the delay you are referring to will be in the Solomons?

Even more nice invade Switzerland, that would be the best for the current situation lots of manpower, and your partisan level will be reduced with all de Swiss Chocolate and other gifts

Tim

How on Earth can the Emperor pull that one off?

 

[intruder alert]

Hirohito is turning into the Chuck Norris of his time.

He has a fist under his beard.

hopefully you have spoiled some divisions traveling by train...

 

[robou]

I wonder what the Australians have left, can't be much. Have you any plans on how to work out what to do in the Marshall's? Those allied forces are mounting up there.

 

[I Killed Kenny]

Good work in australia. I am really feeling the urgency in your every move!

And they are making their last stand in Pearl, that is very smart...

 

[HannibalBarca]

What do you have to gain fighting against the USSR anyways?

 

[Juan_de_Marco]

isn't there that event that the USA surrenders to Japan, and gives up its pacific islands, at reduced partisan activity - you might be able to move more troops then to asia...