"Military please."
"Good morning your Majesty, Gentlemen." Tanigawa began. "The Pacific remains very quiet with the destruction the Carrier fleet the Americans were using in the area. Manchuria is largely unchanged but we have been forced to withdraw somewhat in China and former Mongolia. Our troops in these areas are moving towards their pre-planned positions with little trouble. Winter should begin to rare its head during this coming month and the campaigning season should draw to a close as a result. The Red Army is likely to continue to try and advance during the Winter but it will be a lot tougher for them to do so. I will hand you over to Minister Satoru for a more detailed briefing." Tanigawa concluded.
"Thank you Minister Tanigawa. Good morning your Majesty. The Pacific has seen no changes whatsoever so I will concentrate on Asia and the Soviet Union." Satoru began.
"The map has changed a little during August as the Red Army makes advances in former Mongolia. They currently also occupy the capital of Manchukuo but we have thrown those forces out and are advancing to retake it. Operation Tedious is progressing well with a landing in Siberia and the capture of Sakhalin Island which will remain blockaded to prevent the Soviets returning. I shall break the ares down a little to show more detail."
"India has remained fairly stable although the British did make some advances that had threatened to expand deeper. The grounding of their Naval bombers on patrol has allowed our own bombers to resume operations and the situation had stabalised as a result. With some luck we should be able to push them back into Persia this month which will free up the bombers to assist with the Red Army."
"Our defensive positions in north western China have mostly been abandoned and the forces moved closer to Lanzhou. We do still have a garrison force on the Indian border to try and prevent the Red Army moving in this direction. This force is inadequate to stop them if they are determined to move in this direction. The bombers in India will of course remain there if the Soviets enter the north of the Country. Soviet advances are slow across this entire area and they are still being bombed as they try and advance."
"The center is probably our largest problem right now but we are withdrawing in order to our initially planned defences. The Soviets are using more armour here than we would like which is allowing them to advance a little too quickly. The blue highlighted area is where we would expect to cause a very large number of casualties as this area is in range of our many airbases, shown as orange squares. Close Air Support aircraft can operate in this zone and the infrastructure is appalling to say the least which will slow them down considerably and make them even more vunerable.
The two green squares indicate where the forces that were in Sinkiang are redeploying to. One withdraw, also in green, will be made to solidify the line if it is needed. The blue lines indicate further withdraws as required to a more stable line. We can expect to be pushed further back in the New Year but we should be able to hold this line during the Winter months."
"The situation is Manchuria is the most stable at the moment but it also has the capacity to turn very quickly if we were to lose Harbin."
"Is that likely to happen?" Hirohito asked.
"Quite possibly your Majesty. The Soviets have more than enough troops to force the issue if they want to. The loss of Harbin would be a blow but not a disaster. The map shows our fall back positions should it turn against us. Losing both Harbin and Xinjing would require us to hold Changde in the east to prevent our Manchurian puppet from falling, which is why it will receive a large defensive force. Any soviet advances in the east of this region are likely to be very slow as it all mountainous, and with snow not far away, could take several weeks for the Soviets to cross. We would like to keep the current defensive line if at all possible but with the current manpower situation it may be more prudent to withdraw a little and try and rebuild our reserves during the Winter. Nothing more from me so over to Minister Osami for a small Naval briefing." concluded Satoru.
"Thank you Minister Satoru, good morning your Majesty, Gentlemen." Osami began. "Two operations are currently underway. Operation Tedious has already been mentioned and the second is Operation Retreat which although classified is almost complete. I will brief you on that after the meeting your Majesty."
"Thank you."
"Moving on to casualties. The Imperial Japanese Navy has seen little action but has sunk a few ships."
"The most notable are the two American Carriers of course. Some smaller engagements have netted us some other vessels but the enemy no longer has a massive fleet to send against us so we can expect sporadic combat at best for the time being. The only current area under invasion remains Colombo in Ceylon, where the Americans continue to throw troops uselessly at the steep cliffs. Done." concluded Osami.
"Well Gentlemen it looks like the Soviets are finally waking up to the War that they started. Next year is likely to be the sterner test as the Winter will allow the Red Army to muster its full force on our borders. Try not to lose too much before the snows come." Hirohito said as he stood and left the meeting followed by Minister Osami.