His Imperial Majesty and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces
MOST SECRET
Senior Commanders only
By hand of Officer only
Imperial General Headquarters
Tokyo, 1st July 1940
4 Copies
Copy Nº 2
Our Empire has now been at war against the Union of Soviet Socialists Republics for one year and a half. What begun as a minor border incident, has developed into a full blown out war of attrition between both superpowers. Our aims have been very clear to Us from the start: to deny the USSR commercial and military access to the Pacific Ocean and reassess the balance of power in East Asia by military might. We needed to perform a thrust to such an extent that our new mutual borders would have to be relocated to the Yenisei river in Siberia, the largest river flowing into the Artic Ocean. The reason for this is that we plan on eliminating the USSR as a geopolitical rival of our Empire in the Far East because having them in proximity to our realm was really dangerous, in a military and political sense. To this end, we have launched our imperial crusade and our progress is detailed next.
In our last report, we left off in February of 1940. By the end of the month, our diplomats have noted that the Soviet Union is providing Nazi Germany with favourable commercial agreements due to them having signed the
Treaty of Non-aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics some months earlier. It is also interesting that they are receiving Lend-Lease from the Russians to fight the Western nations. This makes sense because both countries are unofficial partners in their war against the Allied powers. Also of concern is that the United States Congress has approved an embargo against them due to their expansionist aggression.
Imperial troops about to embark on a train in Korea. Final destination: the battlefields of Russia.
After the Soviet Winter Counteroffensive of 1939-1940, which decimated 1/3 of our initial forces in Russia, we have decided to forfeit our hold on Mongolia because supplies wouldn't reach our troops and we did not have local superiority to defend against another possible Soviet advance. We have performed an orderly strategic retreat all the way back to our realm in Manchuria to be close to our supply depots, shorten the frontline and be supported by our allies, whose help has been tremendous and for which we are very grateful. Notice that it is the first time in the entire war that the Soviets have set foot on our Empire proper along a few provinces east of Mongolia. It is not a source of worry however, because their lines are also stretched and we have finally managed to achieve a local superiority in numbers to prevent them from breaking through this area.
Troops ready to charge the enemy. True heroes.
Once we perfomed an strategic retreat in the south to shorten our lines of communication and supplies, our forces in the north were given priority to continue onwards. This strategy has been quite successful as we have gained the offensive initiative once again due to them receiving more supplies and support from our air forces. At the same time, we have formed a defense line to prevent the Soviets from hitting the flanks of our advancing troops. Also, all Anti-Tank corps available have been redeployed to this theatre and have been constantly pushing back the Soviet armored columns. We are now halfway to the Yenisei Line and at this rate we might reach it by the beginning of 1941 to set up defensive lines behind the Yenisei River while simultaneously preparing a massive surprise attack on the Western powers.
Officer corps observing skirmishes unfold.
We have poured massive resources on building a navy for a future conflict with the Allied nations. Five aircraft carriers and one super-heavy battleship, the fearsome Yamato, are currently undergoing sea trials. Once they are ready, Japan will be the strongest naval power in the world and a force to be reckoned with. They will be instrumental for a secret operation being planned by Imperial General Headquarters.
This is what the carriers being built look like in the dockyard.
To deliver more damage to the Soviet armored forces, we are building four Close Air Support and four Tactical bomber wings. We are also constructing numerous convoys to complement our Merchant Navy for a future naval war against the Western powers. We have legislated Heavy Industry laws to support our massive armament program.
Airplanes being produced in a factory in the Home Islands. The air forces have been really important to our overall success in Russia. We owe them everything.
Pilots about to perform a sortie.
Our research priority are Transport planes and Paratroopers. We need these assets to hurt the Soviets behind their lines and occupy some important cities to deny them major railway hubs and perhaps capture the leadership of Sinkiang and Mongolia to force them to surrender and renounce their alliance with the Soviets. If this is successful, we could cut off major soviet supply and communication routes and this will leave their armies vulnerable in unfriendly territory and possibly to face total annihilation.
The political and military situation in Europe has been somewhat quiet after Poland and Denmark fell to the Werhmacht. The so called Sitzkrieg, has given Germany a chance to ready up its forces for a future major offensive against France and the United Kingdom. Notice how Republican Spain has survived and defeated the Nationalists headed by Franco, who was summarily executed along his generals after a mock trial in Madrid. Many political analysts have interpreted this victory as the USSR extending its tentacles over western Europe. At the same time, Finland is miraculously holding out against the Soviet steamroller. They are being supported by France, Great Britain, Hungary, Norway, Italy, Sweden, exiled Polish forces and the United States.
After annexing China and some of its satellite states, our Empire has acquired the highest numbers of VPs. We are followed by the other six major world powers.
The number of our units, as divided by their category. Notice how much fuel and supplies the air wings are consuming relative to their tiny size in the armed forces. This is due to the crucial role they are providing over the skies of Siberia in support of our land troops. For their part, most of our Navy is docked in home ports to save on fuel and because there are no naval powers to challenge us in the Pacific, yet.
Infantry troops riding on a truck to the frontlines.
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Composition of our land forces. After the Imperial Infantry, the Anti-Tank forces are the most numerous units in our Army, save for the garrisons who provide security all across the Empire's many territories in the Pacific and Asia. But the Anti-Tank forces are the biggest consumers of supplies after the Infantry though. Notice how the Infantry has taken the brunt of the war, shown by reinforcement requirements.
About half of our air force is made up by Tactical bombers and they are vital to the effort of our land forces. According to our doctrine, they serve as hard hitting mobile heavy artillery units. They consume the most supplies and fuel out of the rest of air units, disproportionately to their size.
Japanese pilots resting and relaxing after an aerial sortie above Soviet positions.
Our Navy is a true mix of many different naval units. About 20% of our Navy are transports while Light Cruisers and Destroyers make up about 50% our naval assets. Our main naval nucleus however, is currently made up of six battleships, three aircraft carriers and four battlecruisers.
A brief strategic overview of the war against the USSR and Republican China. We have dispensed about nine times as much aerial bombing to our enemies during the entire conflict.
Land warfare overview against Republican China and Russia since 1937. Our enemies have taken five times the damage as we have during the war.
Land warfare overview against all of our enemies since 1937. We have dealt more than three times as much damage to them.
