To The Last Man II- A 1944 Japan AAR

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Tojo is taking a short break while he contemplates the future(and that pocket).He should be back in his HQ by the end of the week....
Thanks for all the comments.

One final question: what was that Greek caption a few updates back? My high school classical Greek is very much lacking these days, so I couldn't recognize any more than the 'Elleniki' (or somesuch) part. I'm curious now...

I think it was "bad news for the Greeks"...although I live in Greece,my Greek is not great.

 

[Duke of Awesome]

although I live in Greece,my Greek is not great.

how does that work?

 

[EnDSchultz]

I've been reading this AAR from the beginning, non-stop for the past four hours or so. Absolutely epic. Congratulations on raising Japan from the brink of defeat to one of the greatest world powers, and viel Glueck with your future conquests! Hitler sends his regards and hopes to see you in Berlin soon.

Subscribed.

 

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A Tour of the Pocket

 

[Enewald]

Time to attack them somewhere?
Or let them eat each-other?

 

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December 1955 Part I

The Battle of Karamay

Russian forces in the north west

Aerial reconnaissance in the north west has shown large numbers of Russian forces on the move behind the frontline.

In many places the Japanese line in the north is weakly defended,prompting Russian attacks in several areas.

Red Army attacks from the pocket

In addition to the Russian attacks against the northern frontline,the Red Army mounted assaults against several Japanese positions surrounding the pocket.Again,Japanese defences in some areas around the pocket are far from ideal,with many divisions having lost a lot of men during Operation Battojutso.Also,given the ability of the Russians to attack from within the pocket shows that there are limited supplies available for Russian offensives.

The Battle of Say-Utes

The Red Army has continued to attack Japanese positions east of the Aral Sea.

More Russian attacks on the northern front

Probing the pocket

On the 9th December a limited offensive was launched against the Russian's in the province of Vysokogorny,an assault that revealed that the Red Army was still able to put up a strong defence.

Russian attacks against Japanese positions on the southern edge of the pocket

The Situation

West of the Caspian

In the Turkish/Caspian region,there can be no change to the current status quo.Large Russian and International forces clearly prevent any further Japanese offensives in this area.

Caspian/Aral Sea Region

In this area,Japanese forces have been weakened by Operation Battojutso and supplies are sporadic.Strong Russian forces remain and because of this no further advances can be made.Indeed,an organised Russian counter-attack could be problematic.For now,the road to Moscow is clearly closed...

Northern Front East of the Aral Sea

East of the Aral Sea Japanese forces are again below strength and suffering from lack of supplies in many areas.Russian attacks are ongoing against many of the weakest Japanese positions.For now,defence is the only option.

The Pocket

The destruction of the Red Army in the pocket will take considerable time and will be far from easy.In many places around the pocket,Japanese forces are below strength and again suffering from inadequate supplies.

In order for the Imperial Army to maintain the northern line,and indeed to advance,the Red Army in the pocket has to be destroyed so that troops can be redeployed to the northern front.Furthermore,without the pocket,the strain on supply flow to the north may be lessened.

 

[Enewald]

The Pocket must be annihilated and then another Pocket II must be made.

 

[Baltasar]

The fronts west and east of the caspian sea are good stopping points, no point in advancing any further for now. Are you building land fortifications in those regions with your spare IC?

Are you generally upgrading the infrastructure of captured regions, at least where your units are supposed to stand for quite a while?

Do you have any reserves left south of the pocket to put up some pressure on the Soviets?

 

[Sir Zeus]

They must have IC in the Pocket and thus getting some supplies to various elements...

You might consider carpet bombing every single shred of IC in the Pocket, kill the IC, kill the supply flow, kill the supply flow and together with Close Air Support you should be able to start making a significant dent in their forces.

And yes i hope you are upgrading every Port, Road and Fort you need to enable a better defensive and Offensive network, combined with destroying the Red's ability to supply their troops, once you start making inroads your supply situation should ease as you reduce the pocket and open up new supply paths

btw, first post in the AAR but have been reading it since you began, very nicely done so far.

 

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Mongolia would be supplying from its capital and the Russian forces are able to use those supplies for their own. First order of business would be to cut off or take out Mongolia.

 

[Jernquist]

Mongolia would be supplying from its capital and the Russian forces are able to use those supplies for their own. First order of business would be to cut off or take out Mongolia.

I have some serious doubts as to wether the infrastructure in mongolia and/or the very limited industry is capable of keeping all those troops supplied, though

Anyway, can't wait for your next update!

 

[jerbod]

I agree with the idea that Mongolia's infrastructure and IC is too low to supply those hundreds of thousand men.

You have any idea on the amount of men trapped inside mongolia?

Btw finally caught up after 3 days of reading. Really impressive what you're doing. Never tought you'd be able to hold on so long against the bear. But you're on a good way to defeat the Red Army. If the encirclement is cleared at least.

The Russian air force is not present at the battlefield? This surprises me. Do they have an air force at all?

The russian navy is peanuts for your advanced and well - trained Imperial Navy.

The Suez is very important. You need to hold it at all costs.

The oil rich provinces in the south of the (former) russia territoria are also good to have.


Grtz And really greet AAR. The sheeps of the South Africans made me laugh so hard I got headache :rofl: keep up the good work.

 

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As far as I understand logistics in HoI3, troops are supplied either by land from the capital or from a port.

I don't know whether Mongolia supplies the troops from Ulan-Bator alone or whether the SU additionally supplies them from Vladivostok, however those two provinces should be your primary targets to break the resistance in the pocket (of course you could also load the game as the Soviets and find out from where the troops are actually supplied from).

Best of luck nad keep up the good work.

 

[Friedrich2]

Sokraates, he has already conquered Vladivostok.

 

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December 1955 Part II

Tojo's plan to break up Russian reorganization

Following the Russian attacks in the north west Tojo realised the importance of keeping the Red Army on the defensive and not allowing the remaining Russian divisions to reorganize and conduct a meaningful counter offensive against the thin Japanese lines.The majority of available Japanese forces were located in the center of the northern front.The plan was too advance through the Russian lines in the center and then the majority of the Japanese divisions would head west.The objective was to roll back the Russians and form a new line,north to south,north of the Aral Sea.Some divisions would head east in an attempt to break up the Russians north west of the pocket.

The offensive began on the 17th December with an attack on Greek/Russian forces in the province of Chindagatuy

Bombing the pocket:Strong Russian forces remain

The defence of Zhaslyk

The battle of Ertix He

Japanese defend the line in the Caspian/Aral region

 

[unmerged(148765)]

Apologies for the lack of updates this last week.Have been busy with the real world and will continue to be so for the next couple of weeks,so updates might be sporadic.

Lots of comments about supplies in the pocket.I will give some details about 'Pocket Plans' in the first January update.

 

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January 1956 Part I

Northern offensive continues

The Japanese offensive on the northern front begins positively with victories in Kyzyl-Mazalyk and Chindagatuy.

Attacking the pocket

Due to supply problems and depleted divisions in a number of areas around the pocket,a large-scale co-ordinated offensive against the pocket is not feasible.In tandem with sustained bombing,Japanese forces will advance when and where possible.However a basic strategy is in place(see last pic) .
Essentially,the main Japanese push against the pocket will be from west to east.A second significant advance will occur on the east coast with a number of Japanese divisions pushing south.A number of the marine divisions east of Vladivostok will also attempt to push north to meet up with the forces moving south.Finally,recent bombing of industrial areas in the pocket seems to have been effective in drying up Russian supplies.Russian attacks from within the pocket had stopped by mid-January.

The following battles are the result of the initial attacks against the pocket.High casualty figures on both sides suggest the elimination of the Red Army in the pocket is going to come at a price.

Given the available forces around the pocket,their condition and supply flow,it is anticipated that the push against the pocket will result in something like what is shown below.What isn't so clear is how long this might take.

 

[Baltasar]

Impressive, to say the least. With losses of about 25-35% of all combatants involved, several Russian divisons will cease to exist a long way before they are actually making a last stand somewhere. Good job on destroying their base of supply. That ought to do the trick.

Do you have any idea how many units the Russians really have and how many of them are currently in the pocket?

 

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Pocket

I think pocket as a word fails to describe what you have done, prehaps we can call it a sack, a sack full of Russians.

 

[Ahriman]

LOL at you apologising for updates becoming sporadic then posting half an hour later.

Those were some surprisingly tough battles against the russians in the pocket. Are they actually totally out of supplies? I'd love to see a screenshot of a russian division in combat with the "-50% Lack of supplies" modifier.

Are you planning a strategic halt somewhere to build up your manpower reserves again? You've burnt through 80 MP in 18 days. It's a long way to Moscow and you need those warm bodies.