Japan 1939 AAR
Ok, so I didn’t really play Japan very much in either HoI1 or 2 so I thought it would be interesting to come in fresh with a look at Japan without any prejudices. I have played a few half-games with UK and Germany to get a feel for the game mechanics and so now time to get into the hot-seat with Japan. I picked the 1939 as I wanted to make sure the war in Europe was already raging (with the historic nations at least to start), but then allowing me as Japan to pick the moment for the war to go truly global. I will be coming in as the new C-in-C of Japan to take control after the offensive in China seems to have stalled for the last year.
Sept 1939: First day in the office.
So, first task. Review the troops. We have a sizeable army on the Chinese mainland but on closer inspection it seems quite disorganized. Theatre HQ is at Shanghai in the south and 2 Army Groups both in Bejing in the north. Many of Army HQ’s have more than 5 divisions directly attached. Maybe this lack of proper organization is why the attack is stalled? So first things first the army needs a shakeup.
I decide to move the 6th Area army group to the centre and create a new army group in the south based at Nanking. These 3 army groups should do a much better job of managing the troops, all reporting direct to Expeditionary HQ in Shanghai. I can mostly then juggle the divisions around so that each Army will control no more than 5, except in the far north where I need to create a new corps to handle the 5 Mongol cavalry divisions. Each army reports now to an Army group in their sector and hopefully this new ORBAT (Order of BATtle) should make the AI more effective if I need to concentrate elsewhere. I promote and assign a logistics expert to command the theatre which hopefully will help too.
In terms of strategy then I am going for divide and conquer, seems we are not at war with Communist China (yet) and will stay on the defensive in the north for now, and focus our efforts on trying to control the rest of the coastline in the south. This will require additional troops so I order the creation of 3 Marine divisions, 2 Infantry divisions and 2 divisions of 1 LArm/2 Mot for starters. Also we need to work on our Air force development I think. So far we only have 5 Squadrons of TAC and 5 Squadrons of INT. We need more TAC if we are to go on the offensive properly so I order 4 more squadrons. In the meantime the IJN will have to help out.
As we have no threats from the sea right now and am too lazy to travel all over the theatre to reorganize the navy I order the entire fleet to assemble for review in Nagasaki (aside from 2 transports on route to Hainan). Its quite impressive sight to see them all anchored in harbor but soon the bars around the harbor run out of saki and there is a huge riot so I have to revoke all shore leave and prepare to disperse the fleet again. What was I thinking… damn matlots! I create 2 Carrier groups (one group with 3 modern carriers and 2 modern battleships, one group with 2 slightly older and 1 escort carrier with 3 modern heavy cruisers. Each group also has an equal screen of Light cruisers and destroyers. Also created are 1 battlecruiser squadron, 2 cruiser squadrons and 2 invasion squadrons with 2 elderly battleships for bombardment. Finally we have enough for 3 packs of submarines. This still leaves a number of elderly type I cruisers, destroyers and subs. We decide not to scrap them but to keep them in reserve for the moment in case they can be utilized as raiders or escorts later. In terms of production then the Emperor has already made it clear that he wants to build 2 Super-heavy battleships, Yamato and Mushasi. I am not sure… but don’t argue with the boss. However we do add orders for 3 Light Cruisers and 3 Destroyer flotillas as we are low on good quality screen ships.
Ok, to business. Operationally for the moment the focus is on south china so I assign the two carrier groups to station themselves off Formosa and Hainan and conduct ground attack missions in support of the army. Should be good target practice. We also start issuing orders to the small number of divisions we have in the enclaves to the south. If we can take the Guangxi clique out of the war and secure the south that would be a good thing. We are outnumbered here and split between the 3 enclaves so the first task is to link up and capture the port north of Hainan. I also push east to try to link up with the isolated division before its supplies run out, we will need every division we can get as production is tight right now.
In the centre I take control and give detailed orders to the new Southern Army group to start slowly but steadily pushing forward south-west, each division taking turns to advance with support from 1 or 2 others. In the north then we stay on the defensive. In fact in the centre west we order a tactical withdrawal. The bulge is too overextended at this point. I can’t afford to let any division get cut off at this point as the line is fairly thinly held already. There will be a time to be bold later.
Initial success is good. We launch an amphibious assault on Zhanjiang with the marines and start a mission to link up with the army. All goes well and I bring in an extra army division from Japan (our only real strategic reserve at this point…) to re-enforce this corps. I have a good feeling about the south. Lots of mountains and jungle will make it hard going I’m sure but I have my best and most promising commanders in this southern army and with the support of the navies CAGs offshore then progress will hopefully be steady.
In the centre east then Army make steady progress too. The terrain is horrible and supply lines are shaky but our troop’s superior quality and have air support. One by one the provinces fall, although most are not worth owning. We need to get to Fuzhou and ultimately we need to link up with the southern army in Guangzhou to make the campaign worthwhile. Onwards!
In the centre west I am glad we pulled back, I suspected the enemy might target that bulge and prove too strong for our thin line. The garrison division was not fast enough though and is cut off. I try a rescue mission to relieve them but the enemy is too strong and we can’t get through in time. They will be avenged… In the north the Communist Chinese have declared war and joined the Nationalists, however the front is relatively quiet and a bit of a Mexican stand-off. Suits us, we can deal with them a bit later. However while the communists are quiet in the north then the Nationalists are busy. Seems they want to push towards Beijing and retake the ancient city. We will have to be watch out. The pressure is on here and we cant be everywhere at once. Hopefully the AI commander in charge in the north is up to the job.
In Guangxi things are going well. Though my relief effort to reach the eastern enclave ultimately got cut off itself (!!) then the situation was rescued and was able to link up. The enemy is more numerous but constant pressure from air and land attack, and a second then third amphibious attack by the Marines is keeping the Guangxi on the retreat. Soon we can push for the capital but as always the terrain and our lack of numbers means we shouldn’t be too quick. However, finally the Guangxi capital falls and a few days later, their morale broken they surrender. Do we want a puppet? No we will annex them and take control ourselves.
We re-organize the brigades and have 6 Infantry and 1 Marine divisions here and the route to the Nationalist capital could be open, however our intel is very shaky and we have no way of knowing how many divisions the nationalists have in reserve. Already some enemy divisions appear. We decide to hold in the north west of this sector with 2 divisions and try to push north-east to try to link up with the main army. If we can cut off a huge part of the Nationalist army then that will be a huge coup and victory will be one step closer. If we head for his capital in small numbers then ultimately he could just shift his desk anyway. Land is cheap here, we need to defeat his army to be sure of bringing this war to an end. We also send one division up the coast to see if we can build a route to Fuzhou.
Steadily we advance northwest, and the main army pushes best it can south through the tough mountains. Its hard going, some attacks fail the first time against stubborn resistance and we have to wait for fresh men and supplies from Shanghai. The navy are flying constant sorties in support, all 11 squadrons from the navy and 5 army squadrons battering the enemy around the clock. I wouldn’t want to be a nationalist soldier today…. Except there are so many of them! We are close to linking up, so close. Two provinces separate us, both under attack with 70-80% progress.
Then nearly 90%, looking good but seems to be stalling a bit, the enemy is throwing fresh divisions in. And Nationalist divisions are appearing from everywhere along the Guangxi front. Our 2 covering divisions are outnumbered maybe 4 or 5 to 1 and are in danger of being cutoff. And sure enough they start close in behind us. It’s looking like a nationalist mountain division with come in behind our 2 divisions trying to link up. That wouldn’t be good. We were distracted to try to capture Fuzhui and come in behind the enemy line but were too ambitious and are spread too thin. Economy of effort, concentration of force… Classic mistake. We should have spent less time chasing geisha girls at staff college! It’s looking like disaster could be snatched from the jaws of victory. The attack has stalled, the enemy too stubborn and too numerous. We have 2 divisions cut off. We could be stubborn ourselves but better to fight out while we still have supplies rather than risk failure. Our 2 divisions in the SW will pull back to Zhanjiang to protect our bases there, and the rest fight a desperate battle from inside and outside the pocket to fight out and pull back to Guangzhou. With furious support from the navy CAGs we just manage to push the enemy out of the way. He REALLY wanted to cut us off and had 3 divisions blocking us. We were lucky. We fight back to the enclave and lick our wounds. Where did all those divisions come from!! We lost access to some Guangxi resources, and we lost some pride, but luckily we didn’t lose any divisions. It seemed certain at one point, an amazing turnaround in fortunes.
[Sound of steel sliding, soft thump on floor]
Jan 1940 : New C-in-C's First day in the office
So, a new command. Seems like the last guy made some good progress but got a bit cocky. We survey the front. We have 2 solid enclaves on the south coast. Both look safe but heavily surrounded by twice as many enemy. In the centre the attack is stalled in the mountains. We have secured a new forward airbase though. Could be useful. However what does look promising is that we think that we can now see where all those divisions appeared from on the Guangxi front. The line Nationalist line in the north is looking quite thin. With the Guangxi clique out of the war and the Nationalist having to cover that front it has diverted many divisions and they have abandoned their thrust on Beijing. All in all it doesn’t look too bad. Those enclaves are tying down twice as many divisions and that could be enough to swing the balance. Time to shift the offensive to the northern front I think. There are a number of resource rich provinces in the interior that would be very useful to our cause. While we might have to be realistic about our chances of totally defeating the nationalists in the near future, we can starve them of resources and grind them down bit by bit. I will take manual control in the north and bring together an army to push the line forward one province at a time and take advantage of what seems like our slight numerical advantage in this sector now.
Production is still slowly progressing but we can’t expect any new units until April 1940. Resources are tight, especially oil and fuel and money. We have stopped the air attacks and returned the fleet to port. The navy can’t help in the interior really, let them rest for the next phase and hopefully save some fuel. We turn our attention to Europe. Poland has fallen and is split between Germany and Russia. Maybe before long we can split Russia between Germany and Japan, but that’s a long way off yet. So far the western front looks like a massive stand-off with France. Hopefully they will step up their offensive in the spring.
We need resources, the embargoes by the evil western powers are really hampering our economic growth. We cant afford to run our heavy industry or we will burn through our money and our resources too fast. If only we could take control of the Dutch East Indies. They are not in the allies yet. Maybe if we can launch a spring invasion while they are still neutral. It would be a gamble. It could push them into the allied camp and start a war with the UK and France before I am ready. The China campaign is really tying down all my troops, but with re-enforcements in April40 then maybe we can consider a new front. Big risks bring big rewards. Banzai!
And so just as the campaign starts to make progress in China again. War! Germany as attacks Norway on 1st April 1940 and as a member of the Axis we are obliged to join. Thats a bit of a pain. So we are at war with UK and France et all, we are unprepared and they are yet to fight properly in Europe. This could get messy….
Ok, so I didn’t really play Japan very much in either HoI1 or 2 so I thought it would be interesting to come in fresh with a look at Japan without any prejudices. I have played a few half-games with UK and Germany to get a feel for the game mechanics and so now time to get into the hot-seat with Japan. I picked the 1939 as I wanted to make sure the war in Europe was already raging (with the historic nations at least to start), but then allowing me as Japan to pick the moment for the war to go truly global. I will be coming in as the new C-in-C of Japan to take control after the offensive in China seems to have stalled for the last year.
Sept 1939: First day in the office.
So, first task. Review the troops. We have a sizeable army on the Chinese mainland but on closer inspection it seems quite disorganized. Theatre HQ is at Shanghai in the south and 2 Army Groups both in Bejing in the north. Many of Army HQ’s have more than 5 divisions directly attached. Maybe this lack of proper organization is why the attack is stalled? So first things first the army needs a shakeup.
I decide to move the 6th Area army group to the centre and create a new army group in the south based at Nanking. These 3 army groups should do a much better job of managing the troops, all reporting direct to Expeditionary HQ in Shanghai. I can mostly then juggle the divisions around so that each Army will control no more than 5, except in the far north where I need to create a new corps to handle the 5 Mongol cavalry divisions. Each army reports now to an Army group in their sector and hopefully this new ORBAT (Order of BATtle) should make the AI more effective if I need to concentrate elsewhere. I promote and assign a logistics expert to command the theatre which hopefully will help too.
In terms of strategy then I am going for divide and conquer, seems we are not at war with Communist China (yet) and will stay on the defensive in the north for now, and focus our efforts on trying to control the rest of the coastline in the south. This will require additional troops so I order the creation of 3 Marine divisions, 2 Infantry divisions and 2 divisions of 1 LArm/2 Mot for starters. Also we need to work on our Air force development I think. So far we only have 5 Squadrons of TAC and 5 Squadrons of INT. We need more TAC if we are to go on the offensive properly so I order 4 more squadrons. In the meantime the IJN will have to help out.
As we have no threats from the sea right now and am too lazy to travel all over the theatre to reorganize the navy I order the entire fleet to assemble for review in Nagasaki (aside from 2 transports on route to Hainan). Its quite impressive sight to see them all anchored in harbor but soon the bars around the harbor run out of saki and there is a huge riot so I have to revoke all shore leave and prepare to disperse the fleet again. What was I thinking… damn matlots! I create 2 Carrier groups (one group with 3 modern carriers and 2 modern battleships, one group with 2 slightly older and 1 escort carrier with 3 modern heavy cruisers. Each group also has an equal screen of Light cruisers and destroyers. Also created are 1 battlecruiser squadron, 2 cruiser squadrons and 2 invasion squadrons with 2 elderly battleships for bombardment. Finally we have enough for 3 packs of submarines. This still leaves a number of elderly type I cruisers, destroyers and subs. We decide not to scrap them but to keep them in reserve for the moment in case they can be utilized as raiders or escorts later. In terms of production then the Emperor has already made it clear that he wants to build 2 Super-heavy battleships, Yamato and Mushasi. I am not sure… but don’t argue with the boss. However we do add orders for 3 Light Cruisers and 3 Destroyer flotillas as we are low on good quality screen ships.
Ok, to business. Operationally for the moment the focus is on south china so I assign the two carrier groups to station themselves off Formosa and Hainan and conduct ground attack missions in support of the army. Should be good target practice. We also start issuing orders to the small number of divisions we have in the enclaves to the south. If we can take the Guangxi clique out of the war and secure the south that would be a good thing. We are outnumbered here and split between the 3 enclaves so the first task is to link up and capture the port north of Hainan. I also push east to try to link up with the isolated division before its supplies run out, we will need every division we can get as production is tight right now.
In the centre I take control and give detailed orders to the new Southern Army group to start slowly but steadily pushing forward south-west, each division taking turns to advance with support from 1 or 2 others. In the north then we stay on the defensive. In fact in the centre west we order a tactical withdrawal. The bulge is too overextended at this point. I can’t afford to let any division get cut off at this point as the line is fairly thinly held already. There will be a time to be bold later.
Initial success is good. We launch an amphibious assault on Zhanjiang with the marines and start a mission to link up with the army. All goes well and I bring in an extra army division from Japan (our only real strategic reserve at this point…) to re-enforce this corps. I have a good feeling about the south. Lots of mountains and jungle will make it hard going I’m sure but I have my best and most promising commanders in this southern army and with the support of the navies CAGs offshore then progress will hopefully be steady.
In the centre east then Army make steady progress too. The terrain is horrible and supply lines are shaky but our troop’s superior quality and have air support. One by one the provinces fall, although most are not worth owning. We need to get to Fuzhou and ultimately we need to link up with the southern army in Guangzhou to make the campaign worthwhile. Onwards!
In the centre west I am glad we pulled back, I suspected the enemy might target that bulge and prove too strong for our thin line. The garrison division was not fast enough though and is cut off. I try a rescue mission to relieve them but the enemy is too strong and we can’t get through in time. They will be avenged… In the north the Communist Chinese have declared war and joined the Nationalists, however the front is relatively quiet and a bit of a Mexican stand-off. Suits us, we can deal with them a bit later. However while the communists are quiet in the north then the Nationalists are busy. Seems they want to push towards Beijing and retake the ancient city. We will have to be watch out. The pressure is on here and we cant be everywhere at once. Hopefully the AI commander in charge in the north is up to the job.
In Guangxi things are going well. Though my relief effort to reach the eastern enclave ultimately got cut off itself (!!) then the situation was rescued and was able to link up. The enemy is more numerous but constant pressure from air and land attack, and a second then third amphibious attack by the Marines is keeping the Guangxi on the retreat. Soon we can push for the capital but as always the terrain and our lack of numbers means we shouldn’t be too quick. However, finally the Guangxi capital falls and a few days later, their morale broken they surrender. Do we want a puppet? No we will annex them and take control ourselves.
We re-organize the brigades and have 6 Infantry and 1 Marine divisions here and the route to the Nationalist capital could be open, however our intel is very shaky and we have no way of knowing how many divisions the nationalists have in reserve. Already some enemy divisions appear. We decide to hold in the north west of this sector with 2 divisions and try to push north-east to try to link up with the main army. If we can cut off a huge part of the Nationalist army then that will be a huge coup and victory will be one step closer. If we head for his capital in small numbers then ultimately he could just shift his desk anyway. Land is cheap here, we need to defeat his army to be sure of bringing this war to an end. We also send one division up the coast to see if we can build a route to Fuzhou.
Steadily we advance northwest, and the main army pushes best it can south through the tough mountains. Its hard going, some attacks fail the first time against stubborn resistance and we have to wait for fresh men and supplies from Shanghai. The navy are flying constant sorties in support, all 11 squadrons from the navy and 5 army squadrons battering the enemy around the clock. I wouldn’t want to be a nationalist soldier today…. Except there are so many of them! We are close to linking up, so close. Two provinces separate us, both under attack with 70-80% progress.
Then nearly 90%, looking good but seems to be stalling a bit, the enemy is throwing fresh divisions in. And Nationalist divisions are appearing from everywhere along the Guangxi front. Our 2 covering divisions are outnumbered maybe 4 or 5 to 1 and are in danger of being cutoff. And sure enough they start close in behind us. It’s looking like a nationalist mountain division with come in behind our 2 divisions trying to link up. That wouldn’t be good. We were distracted to try to capture Fuzhui and come in behind the enemy line but were too ambitious and are spread too thin. Economy of effort, concentration of force… Classic mistake. We should have spent less time chasing geisha girls at staff college! It’s looking like disaster could be snatched from the jaws of victory. The attack has stalled, the enemy too stubborn and too numerous. We have 2 divisions cut off. We could be stubborn ourselves but better to fight out while we still have supplies rather than risk failure. Our 2 divisions in the SW will pull back to Zhanjiang to protect our bases there, and the rest fight a desperate battle from inside and outside the pocket to fight out and pull back to Guangzhou. With furious support from the navy CAGs we just manage to push the enemy out of the way. He REALLY wanted to cut us off and had 3 divisions blocking us. We were lucky. We fight back to the enclave and lick our wounds. Where did all those divisions come from!! We lost access to some Guangxi resources, and we lost some pride, but luckily we didn’t lose any divisions. It seemed certain at one point, an amazing turnaround in fortunes.
[Sound of steel sliding, soft thump on floor]
Jan 1940 : New C-in-C's First day in the office
So, a new command. Seems like the last guy made some good progress but got a bit cocky. We survey the front. We have 2 solid enclaves on the south coast. Both look safe but heavily surrounded by twice as many enemy. In the centre the attack is stalled in the mountains. We have secured a new forward airbase though. Could be useful. However what does look promising is that we think that we can now see where all those divisions appeared from on the Guangxi front. The line Nationalist line in the north is looking quite thin. With the Guangxi clique out of the war and the Nationalist having to cover that front it has diverted many divisions and they have abandoned their thrust on Beijing. All in all it doesn’t look too bad. Those enclaves are tying down twice as many divisions and that could be enough to swing the balance. Time to shift the offensive to the northern front I think. There are a number of resource rich provinces in the interior that would be very useful to our cause. While we might have to be realistic about our chances of totally defeating the nationalists in the near future, we can starve them of resources and grind them down bit by bit. I will take manual control in the north and bring together an army to push the line forward one province at a time and take advantage of what seems like our slight numerical advantage in this sector now.
Production is still slowly progressing but we can’t expect any new units until April 1940. Resources are tight, especially oil and fuel and money. We have stopped the air attacks and returned the fleet to port. The navy can’t help in the interior really, let them rest for the next phase and hopefully save some fuel. We turn our attention to Europe. Poland has fallen and is split between Germany and Russia. Maybe before long we can split Russia between Germany and Japan, but that’s a long way off yet. So far the western front looks like a massive stand-off with France. Hopefully they will step up their offensive in the spring.
We need resources, the embargoes by the evil western powers are really hampering our economic growth. We cant afford to run our heavy industry or we will burn through our money and our resources too fast. If only we could take control of the Dutch East Indies. They are not in the allies yet. Maybe if we can launch a spring invasion while they are still neutral. It would be a gamble. It could push them into the allied camp and start a war with the UK and France before I am ready. The China campaign is really tying down all my troops, but with re-enforcements in April40 then maybe we can consider a new front. Big risks bring big rewards. Banzai!
And so just as the campaign starts to make progress in China again. War! Germany as attacks Norway on 1st April 1940 and as a member of the Axis we are obliged to join. Thats a bit of a pain. So we are at war with UK and France et all, we are unprepared and they are yet to fight properly in Europe. This could get messy….
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