Early Rising Sun

[markkur]

Did Khalkin-Gol bring the Germans in, or did Barbarossa bring you in w.r.t. the Soviets?

What happened is that the Czechs refused to let the Germans have the remainder of their country. When that happened, Germany declared war. Afterwards, in what order the events fire, I'm not sure. But in March 1939 Germany begins fighting Poland, France and Britain too. Could be scripted when the Czech's refuse. This is the 10%-game. I was told there is about a 1 in 10 chance of this event-chain.

Because I had already joined the Axis before the above happened, when the Czechs said "No-Way-Jose" that started Japan's war early also.

I am not at war with the Soviets yet. I waited until I was ready with my own plans in order; also, they were a source of Metal while I locked-down the Pacific. Since I am an Axis power I'm about to DOW now.

 

[markkur]

Czechoslovakia Said NO!​

This was the “what?” moment when I thought “Good grief, I‘m at war?” It didn’t take long to realize that the rare event of Czechoslovakia saying NO! had happened two games in a row.

I know many, if not most players of this game, like to go the a-historical route but that’s not how I play and now this new game was going to be something really different for me. Once I took stock of the situation I realized things were indeed much different. Germany and Japan were paired against England, France, Poland and the Czechs. At first glance this doesn’t sound as bad as it is and here’s why.

Instead of Germany methodically rolling over enemies mostly individually, it begins the war fighting on not quite three fronts. Japan, instead of entering a war where Britain’s vaunted Grand Fleet and the formidable French fleet had been engaging the German and Italian navies for years, found all Allied war-ships cleared for action and the Japanese Navy the clear menace to contain.

To give another example about how different the war was starting, Japan’s total brigades was actually higher than Germany. However, when it comes to un-supported units Germany still held a decided advantage with 182 units versus my 118

The German navy was at typical strength but without her important naval ally Italy, it would be in even worse shape and prove so. So how did I fare against the two Allied Navies? Well, one good thing, I began this adventure with Grand Fleet status by floating 112 vessels. The bad news though was the Brits Grand Fleet sailed 142 ships. That’s not a huge disadvantage but then to add in the 55 units of the French Navy would seriously swing the balance of power to the Allies.

Warships only

Germany - 2 BC, 5 DD, 3 CA, 6 CL and 8 SS = 24.
Japan - 4 BC, 6 BB, 6 CV, 25 DD, 1 CVL, 14 CA, 25 CL, 8 SS = 89.
Versus
France - 1 BC, 6 BB, 1 CV, 11 DD, 7 CA, 7 CL, 15 SS = 48.
Britain - 3 BC, 12 BB, 3 CV, 43 DD, 3 CVL, 16 CA, 30 CL, 10 SS = 120.

Being down 3 to 1 in Battleships didn’t surprise me but seeing Germany had no more SS than I did, while observing France had twice as many as the nation famous for leading the way of the U-Boat…seemed odd. The only slight advantage I held on the sea was that I did build my Carriers in anticipation of the later war with the U.S.

Airpower was another story and with a better ending for our side. Overall the Axis had twice the number of planes than the Allies.

Air Wings

Germany - 8 CAS, 11 INT, 4 MR, 4 NAV, and 8 TAC = 33.
Japan - 13 CAG, 5 INT, 12 MR, 2 NAV and 5 TAC = 37.
Versus
France - 2 CAG, 5 INT and 5 TAC = 12.
Britain - 9 CAG, 5 INT, 1 MR, 5 TAC. 3 STR. 1 TRP = 24.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Steaming Towards the Enemy​

March 1939 - March 1940
Once the Axis was at war it did not take long for my convoy losses to begin and make short work of my reserves. For this year I built a lot of convoys and kept my ASW and all Radar techs at full speed ahead and now my Marines, Fighters and Naval Bombers were filling the Queue.

My Theater Command Structure was as Follows.
Tokyo Imperial HQ - General Terauchi
China HQ - General Kuribayashi
Truk HQ - General Okabe

My Fleets were as follows:
“1st Carrier Fleet” (Admiral Yamamoto) CV Akagi, CV Kaga, BC Kongo, BC Hiei, with 4 screens.
“2nd Carrier Fleet” (Admiral Ozawa) CV Soryu, CV Ryujo, BC Kirishima, CA Myoko, CA Haguro and 5 screens.
“CVL TF” (Admiral Koga) CVL Zuiho, CA Izumo, CA Asama and 5 screens.
“3rd Carrier Fleet” (Admiral Nagumo) CV Akagi, CV Amagi, CA Kinugasa, CA Nachi CA Ashigara and 8 screens.
“1st Battleship Fleet” (Admiral Nagano) BB Nagato, BB Mutsu, CA Atago, CA, Takao and 4 screens.
“2nd Battleship Fleet” (Admiral Mikawa) BB Ise, BB Hyuga, and 4 screens.
“3rd Battleship Fleet” (Admiral Fukudome) BB Fuso *, BB Yamshiro and 4 screens.
“Cruiser Fleet” (Admiral Nomura) BC Haruna, CA Chokai, CA Maya, and 6 screens.
*Note above. Once the new BB Fuso was built the old WWI era Fuso would be renamed BB Markko and this old ship will become quite the story.

As to where were my troops were stationed; 2nd Army had been rebased back on the Japanese mainland along with part of 1st Army marching to Chinese ports preparing to embark. Before the DOW, I had no plans for invasions anywhere. I was in the part of my pre-war build-up that would focus on many more Marine units, a few more Wings of NAVs, a few more Capitols and a lot more screens. Of course, now 1st Army stayed on the China-coast until I knew where they would invade and I had to reorder my production plans.

* Germany had Bismarck and Tirpitz in queue with them finishing next August and September. Germany was also about finished researching the Heavy-Tank. One last note; IC at war-start Japan 222 and Germany 229.

This was the picture when I suddenly heard that nasty sound of sinking convoys.

 

[sebas379]

I see you'r pairing BC with CV. Thats probably not tbe best idea since the screens will hang back to protect the carriers and the battlecruisers will charge forward unescorted. Same with heavy cruisers and battleships. It only works if you pair CVL with BB or BC.

Time to hunt the allied submarines fro your waters and take their ports.

 

[markkur]

I see you'r pairing BC with CV.

Very true mi amigo and I paid the price but I think you're going to be at least a little surprised by how I fare with my fleets overall. Maybe not.

Btw, you're a great AAR writer so don't be to disappointed with my effort. I keep getting bogged down on stats and we'll that's me. Even though it's just numbers and this is a game, I just love the stuff and hope I'm not boring readers to death.

 

[markkur]

War with France and England​

Germany and the Status of Europe
While Germany overran Praha and pushed into Poland, France stabbed Germany in the back. The Germans were fighting on nearly all their borders. The rest of Europe watched the war; no nation joined a side. Romania favored the Allies more on the triangle, so that was troublesome.

It did not take long for the war to be settled in the east but the west was a different matter. By the time Germany could redeploy troops against French aggression, France had taken 4-5 German Provinces and even Luxembourg had taken Bitburg. That was a shocker I can tell you but I soon saw the reason for the minor-miracle; France had given them a Light Tank Division and a good Infantry unit, so Lux was feeling it’s oats. I will guess it took a couple of months for Germany to defeat France and judging by France still having a large Navy to fight Japan, I’d say when Vichy fired, there was no reduction in the size of the French Navy.

About the only other thing I can remember about Germany at this time is that the Soviets were their number one trading partner as usual. I don’t remember much of any with the U.S. and that might explain the rapid move to DOW Axis by the Americans.

The First Moves
On 20 March, 1st Army commander Yamashita left his base in Guangzou and had the pleasure of accompanying Hata’s 4th Corps in taking Hong Kong, while 2nd Corps went for the French port of Zahnjiang. It fell quickly too.
Before I could do much else, I needed to clear my waters of Subs and other warships sinking my convoys at an alarming rate. To do this I had to engage several Allied navies and sometimes the results were not favorable. All told, both sides lost a couple of dozen ships. However, even though I had gained control of the sea’s, I had trouble finding all the subs in the area. France, Netherlands and Britain all had several sub-packs going after Japanese shipping. However, because I had earlier prioritized Radar, ASW and all Ship and Plane radars, I soon sank a good number of them. After capturing so many ports, I pushed the reach of the remaining subs much further back.

Indo-China was my next target and after a quick landing originating from the port of Beihai China and Marine-assaults on Can Ranh & Saigon, the French were driven out. My only miscue with French Indo-China was because I was unsure what would happen if I didn’t set a war-goal, I selected Conquer to acquire French Pacific Islands. Sounds good right? It wasn’t. I received Indo-China and a few small islands but because I did my own thing instead of just waiting for the “gimme” I caused Siam to bug-out and draw close to Britain. Instead of having Siam a Puppet, they gave “military-access” to Britain and I would have to fight them first to get to Singapore by land. And since I wanted to get back to Grand-Fleet status, by-land was the ticket.

The land campaign.

However, before going for Singapore, I needed the Oil in Borneo and the critical Strategic-Resources of the Dutch East Indies. Resources were plummeting like a rock but I found the Soviets were very willing trading partners and was able to buy some Metal from them to slow my losses but Rares & Oil I needed badly and knew where to get them. My next strategic moves were to take Borneo and the four oil ports there and then start rolling up the Dutch East Indies to get the “good-stuff”, Rubber, Gold, Oil-Refinery and Cinchona in Java. Of course there are also lots of the normal resources there.

During my landings in the western ports of Borneo, I had several run-ins with Allied Fleets and lost a few ships. The next big hassle of taking those two regions was my own Garrison rule. Before my infantry could leave a port a GAR had to arrive.

In taking the port of Kuala Belait, I had a naval battle and lost a couple of ships. This dropped Japan from Grand-Fleet status. Since it would be a while before I could get more DDs and CLs made I was more cautious now. After taking Kuala Belait we marched down to Kuching and then on to Pontianak. On the other side of the Island, my re-enforced and healthy invasion fleet met a few Dutch vessels that either fled or were sunk as we landed in Tarakan and Balikpapan. Each port would have 1 Infantry division remain behind until my Garrisons in queue could deploy. So, as you see, the further I expanded the more infantry I was stringing out. 5 divisions on Borneo alone.

Our next targets in Java were first Soerabaja and then Batavia. From Batavia we hopped over to Oosthaven and there temporarily halted our advance. Even though I had planned ahead it would still be a few months before all infantry could be removed from guard-duty and give me some units to push on. For a period of time; a infantry unit would be replaced by a Garrison, only to take another port and again await a garrison.

Again because of my miscue, before gunning for Singapore, I had to deal with a rebel Siam. Two Infantry Corps and one Marine Corps thrust into Siam and the nation fell very quickly. I then had another unpleasant discovery; because I had corrupted the script by setting a war-goal, when Siam surrendered it made a truce with the UK! So for a few months they were my puppet but would be useless against the British.

By early 1940 I sent one Marine Corps down the Malay-peninsula and once I captured Kota Bharu I had a remaining Inf-div that sat waiting in Phet-Buri transported to the captured port to hasten the fall of Singapore and also quickly paint the region. Yeah! More Rubber. Now I’d taken 2 sources of Rubber out of British hands.

“The Empire” continued to acquire more territory and the rest of the Dutch ports in Sumatra fell. During this time I had several transports split into single-units and running a steady GAR shuttle from the mainland to the next port on the list. From Soerabaja another transport would pick-up the infantry division and take it to Singapore, my new HQ and command-center in the South Pacific.

All in all I had taken 5 French ports, 4 English ports, 2 ports from Siam and 13 ports from the Dutch. I had really pushed back the allied sea-patrols now, there were no allied Subs north of the waters around Singapore. The only occasional fleet contact was with Australian vessels and sometimes a few British ships.

Dining on Crab Rangoon and Indian Curry
Marine landings at Rangoon and Calcutta got my juggernaut rolling again. One Mtn.-Corps and all available infantry corps still on the mainland (and not a part of the island campaign) were redeployed to Chittigong and a few other ports in India to hasten the conquering & painting of India. Both Nepal and Bhutan fell quickly even though Siam stayed home. Capturing all provinces in India was a long and tiresome task that I had to manage while my attention was on the seas and possibly the more important part of my conquest strategy.

Next-up Operation Stranglehold

Edit= Borneo, Java and Sumatra were correctly added to the story and my incorrect placement of New Guinea removed.

 

[markkur]

Operation Stranglehold​

After the fall of Singapore, Dutch East Indies, Burma and the pacification of India, I concentrated on my other expansion plan. (and more ambitious) This plan began with my main naval-base in Truk as a springboard into the rest of the S.E. Pacific.
Note: Here again I would use my 2-step transport system to again get GARs out to newly captured ports ASAP to free-up either Marines or Infantry to keep advancing. I was now beginning to worry about the clock and whether or not I would have enough GAR, troops and time to finish the operation before the Calvary (US Navy) would come looking for my savages.

Australia and New Zealand were not originally part of my plan, even with my knowing the US could use their bases. However, that changed when I saw names like Guadalcanal and Tarawa in their hands. That meant Oceania had to fall to Japanese forces. This was the moment when I decided there will be no port for an Allied ship to anchor.

Japan executes a successful island-hop campaign.

I’ll have to keep this short but the execution was anything but quick. I spread my forces across the SE Pacific taking every island on the way. Eventually the two nations of Oceania became the targets and very regrettably I had to sink their navies. Since New Zealand had only transports that was no great loss but Australia, though a small navy, would have been a great addition as a puppet having several ASW fleets. Instead their whole Navy was sunk before their surrender. That of course would also make them blind and unable to see enemy activity in the near future.

After Japan’s bold & successful expansion, the only remaining Pacific ports belonged to the US and her puppet The Philippines. Operation Stranglehold was now nearly complete with only one more Naval-Campaign to execute.

Yankee Go Home

We had made tremendous strides in bringing the Pacific under our control but there remained 2 ports that could wreck our plans and nothing would be more dangerous than to let The Philippines exist as a friend of the USA, or the US held Guam continue to exist, right in the middle of our island-empire. Therefore they were our first strategic targets. After they fell into our hands, players of HoI will know the roll-call of US port-names that also had to be captured; Wake, Midway, Honolulu, Johnston Island and Phoenix island were soon captured.

Now that those ports are Japanese, Operation Stranglehold is still not at an end. I yet need to capture the 5 remaining Allied Pacific-bases of Attu, Palmyra, Jarvis, Christmas Island and American Samoa. These are not insignificant but for the present, with the SU in my sights, they will be have to be slowly taken over the near future. Even with these remaining U.S ports, for the present Japan truly commands the Pacific. Operation Stranglehold was a huge success and hopefully we will keep all Allied fleets at a long arm’s reach.


Greeting the U.S. Navy
Holding the Pacific will not necessarily be easy. I.e. when I took Phoenix Island, my invasion Fleets had nearly made it back to Pearl when they had to turn-around and defend Johnston. The American fleet was destroyed, and their 2 marine divisions were lost with the sunk LC. Now that I will open the new Axis front against the Soviets, the Americans could give me trouble.
I have not lost a single-ship while American ship losses thus far are 4 Battleships, 5 Light-Cruisers, 4 Destroyers, 10 Submarines, 1 Landing Craft and 1 Transport for a total of 25 ships. With my earlier destruction of the RN to reduce it to a size of around 35 warships, if I can continue to win at sea versus the U.S. Navy, all fleets belonging to Axis nations have a chance to grow more powerful.

There is more good news. At the start of the war with the U.S. their navy had 3 squadrons of SS that were beginning to do convoy-damage in the center of my island empire. This could have been disastrous but all three groups were quickly found and destroyed. The fight between the IJN and the RN and the other Allied fleets has left my “now” Grand Fleet a formidable one led by several excellent admirals.

Total Warships sunk by Japan (prior to my DOW on SU)
Battleships - France 3, Britain 11, USA 4.
Battle Cruisers - France 1, Britain 3.
Heavy Cruisers - France 4, Britain 13, Australia 4.
Light Cruisers - France 3, Britain 22, USA 5, Australia 1, Netherlands 3.
Destroyers - France 6, Britain 39, USA 5, Australia 3, Netherlands 4.
Submarines - France 5, Britain 10, USA 9, Netherlands 3.
Japan’s losses BB 1, BC 3, CA 6, CL 7, DD 12, SS 3

* There is a problem with Japan’s auto-listing for ship names; many are duplicated. Earlier I mentioned my renaming a WW1 Battleship because I wanted my new BB to be the Fuso. I certainly gave this little thought when I named the older ship the “Markko”.<L>

But…check out Markko in late 1941

Next-up: Prelude to the Russia

 

[markkur]

The Global Situation - November 1941 (just before DOW on SU)
​

* Germany has advanced to within 8 provinces of Moscow. Though the rest of the front is well contended the northern part of the German line is advancing more rapidly. The cause might be that the Soviets have very large forces facing Finland. With the Germans so close to the capitol, this could be a disaster for Russia, if massive forces are cut-off from the Capitol and even new capitols, should Moscow fall. Since the US just entered the war they have not been receiving LL from the Americans.
* Germany has taken control of Vichy in Europe.
* Because of some sort of A.I. botch, Germany gave Finland 9 armored divisions. 7 ARM. 1 LARM and 1 HARM and Generals Model{6}von Manstein{6}and von Salmuth {5} are some of the German leaders now serving in the Finnish Army. Finland is in the Axis but has not declared war yet.
* The Baltic Nations continue free and all 3 appear to drift towards the Axis.
* I had to tag Romania and get the nation to DOW Russia. W/o the RM Pact, I don’t think they would have ever have joined the Axis. Soon Romania held Odessa, but Soviet tanks are rumbling their way now. Note: In hindsight maybe I should have let Romania be but a unusually strong Allied Romania seemed undesirable.
* Believe this or not, the S.U. decided to invade the German held province east of Athens with a Guard division. Right now it looks like a western scene where 2 gunfighters ready to pull their guns, stand and stare at each other.
* Italy is struggling with it’s gains and losing land. Iraqi partisans have risen and since they did so as the British claimed Tel Aviv, the Italian units are in a mad dash to Beirut. Worse yet, Italian forces do yet control Tripoli but after recapturing Misurata appear stalemated by a lone English Armored division. Malta is still in Italian hands but that’s about it.
* Even though the U.K. has lost the war in Asia, they have wisely focused closer to home and their Marines are doing well. In addition to what I’ve already mentioned, they also control Tunis and the surrounding area. Of course these gains can be readily utilized by American forces. Cypress has never been taken.
* For whatever reason, Belgium captured part of Greece but is not fighting now.
* Communist China joined the S.U. early and for a tiny nation looks to pack a punch.
* Yunnan and Xibei San Ma are Axis nations after I became tired of them sitting in the Axis corner and not being part of the party. "They were both very concerned about Communist China and decided to pick sides”.
* Due to Japan’s success in the greater Pacific, not only does it have Manchukuo, Mengkukuo and Siam as puppets but also Australia, New Zealand and The Philippines are in the Empire now.
* Japan has given 10 LL to Manchukuo and 5 to Mengkukuo but this will soon end.
Before revealing my plans for the future direction of this AAR, I thought I’d give a “current-status” regarding the size of various branches of my military. A reminder, this was not my plan, the early-war’s (the Czech forget you Germany!) set a different path to war for all nations.

As of 20 November 41 Japan’s military forces are:
The Army (Brigades)
GRD - 3, AA - 8, AT - 8, ART - 30, MTN -12, CAV -12, ENG -17, GAR - 219!
INF - 89, MAR - 48, MIL - 28, MOT - 1, MP - 17, PAR - 6, Total = 492*

* As you can see by this breakdown Japan is nowhere near as strong as nearly 500 brigades suggests. Rather, I have only 168 true fighting brigades. Let’s look at Germany; Germany has a total of 597 Brigades but from their totals they have 277 brigades of foot, 15 various Armor and 31 Motorized units for a total of 323 no-support brigades; Germany’s land strength is twice as strong as mine, where it really matters…the core of the army.
Though I lack ground units, (and how I wish for more, since I‘m (“kicking-in the back-door“) the war was indeed an early surprise and I’ve responded by nearly shutting-down the entire Pacific to allied sailing. 247 brigades of GAR & MIL has been a damper in two ways. 1. Obviously I was building scads of occupation-units and not expanding my army. 2. Those guards need to eat and that meant a lot of supplies just to hold the gains. This was not necessarily a barrel of fun but I think it a necessity in a real war.

The Navy
BB - 7, BC -1, CV - 6, CVL - 1, CA - 12, CL - 29, DD - 46, SS - 9, LC - 10, TP - 14
(137 ships)
Air Wings
CAG - 18, INT - 6, MR - 12, NAV - 9, TAC - 6, TRP - 1 {52 Wings)

The Home Front
Production is focused on Militia for India, New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies. Some militia will gradually become available as China becomes more subdued but I cannot wait on that because I need all of my experienced troops now.
Also in the Queue is another x3 Wing of Tacs and as well as the CV Akagi. Hiryu, Shokaku and Zuikaku are planned over the next couple of years with DDs and CLs as well as Marines the priority now.

I have 400 convoys and I am seldom losing any now. We’ll see if things hold or if I am stomped into oblivion by red, white and blue Marine armies landing in dozens of places that I cannot defend because of my glorious “Garrison-rule” and nearly all of my land-forces are engaged with the Communist armies.
Plan of Attack on the Soviet Union and Allied Countries


From Tokyo Imperial HQ
Two invasion-fleets will sail from port Kanazawa to attack two important Soviet ports and at the same hour separate offensives will begin against Communist China and Mongolia.

Southern Invasion: The first force will sail through the Gulf of Peter the Great and assault Vladivostok.
Assault Forces:
Naval: Marine landing-craft will be protected by the CVL Zuiho TF (Adm. Koga) and the assault will be supported by the powerful guns of the SHBBs Yamato and Mushashi Battle Fleet (Adm. Fukudome).
Land:
a. 4th Marine Corps led by General Shigeta an experienced Battle Master and Commando. He will command 40,000 Marines and Engineers in the attack.
b. A supporting land attack for the Southern Invasion will be commanded by General Yamashita. General Ando leads the 40,000 strong 3rd Infantry Corps and will attack north into Kraskino from Ch’ongjin. 7th Corps, consisting of 21,000 troops are garrisoned in Harbin, the capitol of Manchukuo, to prevent a calamity for our ally and are also in position to deploy when/where needed.
Additional: If needed, two Zero Wings are on standby in Kanazawa should more air-cover than a single CAG-wing be required to protect the southern landing.

Northern Invasion: Sail the Okhotsk Approach and land at Ulya.
Assault Forces:
Naval: 5th Patrol fleet (Adm. Yamaguchi) containing the BB Hyuga, Heavy Cruisers Izumo & Asama and escorts will provide shore bombardment for the attack.
Land: General Higashikuni another very good leader and an expert in Offensive tactics leads 40,000 Marines also with excellent Engineer support.

From Kwantung HQ
Mongolia & Communist China
a. Lt. General Kimura has 36,000 Mountain-troops in the Argin Sum mountains of Mengkukuo, positioned in-front and around the Mongolian border-province of Ongon.
b. To contain Communist China and also push west in-force, 1st and 5th Infantry Corps, (Generals Kawabe & Nishihara) totaling 90,000 men will drive the enemy's entire eastern border with 4 divisions hitting their capitol from three directions. For good measure our Ally Xibei San Ma securely holds the southern end of our line and once we engage, will easily be able to push into southern Communist China.
The overarching strategic-plan belongs to Major General Yamashita. It is his intent to use the northern Marine landing to sever the Soviet supply lines to Vladivostok and if the invasion into that city is successful, immense pressure will be brought to bear on all Russian forces down the Peninsula. Further, once Communist China falls, at least one of the Corps involved will redeploy to Manchukuo's eastern border where needed.

If this war-plan proves successful, Japan will quickly remove a Soviet ally, with two more likely to fall in a couple of months. With this victory in the far-east, Japan will quickly establish a strong line of attack to advance into greater Russia from two directions.

What will the American leadership do? Will they cede the Pacific and assist the British in their advance into the Med? Or will they try to do all and accomplish nothing? Or will my empire crumble?


Finally...on to the greater War!

 

[sebas379]

Great work overrunning Southeast Asia and the Pacific bases. You've inflicted great losses on the Allied fleets. I hope the Imperial army can match the navy's success in the upcoming war.

-I often see the AI Soviets stack insane amounts of troops on the Finnish border, which could explain why the Finns dont want to join. But maybe the AI is just stuck again, sometimes you have to force them to join.
-No MR pact, but the Winter War still happened? I thought that depended on the pact too. Interesting.
-ComChi looks like it packs a punch, but its mostly militia with a handful of good units. You should be ale to outgun them with relative ease, just keep the terrible terrain in mind.

I like the ambitious plan against the Soviets, but am slightly worried your line will be too thin once Soviet reinforcements show. Then again that could take a long time if they'r knee-deep in Europe and you could reach the rivers/Baikal lake by then.

 

[markkur]

I like the ambitious plan against the Soviets, but am slightly worried your line will be too thin once Soviet reinforcements show. Then again that could take a long time if they'r knee-deep in Europe and you could reach the rivers/Baikal lake by then.

I am too. As I'm sure you can tell, I'm strong at Sea and in the Air but I do not have a large army and desired flexibility is nearly non-existent. I would never have planned on approaching this war as I am now but hey...who knows. maybe my bold plan will succeed. I think I have enough to get the job done but it's going to be close and success with also depend on how aggressive the US is at trying to retake its bases. If I get stormed in several places, I will have to choose between letting go of some of my island gains or assuming a defensive posture against the Soviets and fall back on keeping some sort of stalemate going, to cause serious troop shortages.

As far as the Finns and my tagging to them; I agree I should DOW for them but I wonder; since there are strong German Armored-units on that border, if that might be the reason the Germans are so close to Moscow. Iow. Russia is not pulling troops because of the strength of the Finnish-line.Thoughts?

 

[Forster]

How is it going in Burma/India?

 

[sebas379]

Russia Always stacks hordes of troops against Finland until it is too late. Only you can judge wether its worth it to bring Finland in.

 

[markkur]

How is it going in Burma/India?

You missed this.

Dining on Crab Rangoon and Indian Curry

Marine landings at Rangoon and Calcutta got my juggernaut rolling again. One Mtn.-Corps and all available infantry corps still on the mainland (and not a part of the island campaign) were redeployed to Chittigong and a few other ports in India to hasten the conquering & painting of India. Both Nepal and Bhutan fell quickly even though Siam stayed home. Capturing all provinces in India was a long and tiresome task that I had to manage while my attention was on the seas and possibly the more important part of my conquest strategy.

I didn't write much about this part of the Conquest because there was not really much to tell. After minor resistance in Singapore the rest was a cakewalk with the hardest part of extending my Empire to Afghanistan - cornering HQs in the horrible terrain and painting that huge amount of provinces. Siam was a tougher fight, though still a very easy one.

The other hassle of India is all the needed GARs for ports and my currently deploying 12 MIL there. I have too, to get my last Marines and Infantry out of the country and fighting against either the U.S. or in my campaign against the Soviets. Note: It took so long to turn all provinces I already have partisan-uprisings. My army is not motorized.

 

[markkur]

Russia Always stacks hordes of troops against Finland until it is too late. Only you can judge wether its worth it to bring Finland in.

I think I will let things be and here is why. I thought about tagging and making Finland DOW but the HARM is out of fuel and since I don't know if Finland can truly support all the armor Germany has given them, I'll let fate be. There is one bad result if I do not and that's some of Germany's finest generals are not engaged in the war.

At the present, I will let things stand. I am going to check and make sure Bulgaria is at war with the Soviets; that might be the reason they are sitting around doing nothing.

-No MR pact, but the Winter War still happened? I thought that depended on the pact too. Interesting.

I wanted to confirm this is true. I think I remember a glimpse of the fight (can't be sure) but regardless, the new border is sitting in the usual post-Winter war position, with the Finns pushed back from their rightful lands.

 

[markkur]

"Discretion is the Better Part of Valor"
{21 November, 1941}​

I was just about ready to start the war in the east against the Soviets when I decided to take one last look around and make certain that I was ready to commit. I observed how very close 3 of the last U.S. held bases were to several of my islands and decided to not chance that toe-hold.

Since Operation Stranglehold was intended to be a "stranglehold" and since I had not captured those last U.S. bases, the most important operation in my overall war-plan was not complete. I knew then, I needed to be patient and not jump the gun. If I took the remaining islands first, all US fleets would be forced to sail from the U.S. mainland ports and with their heavy naval losses they could be limited by some ship classes as to what islands they could reach.

Once I made this decision, a couple of other situations became very obvious, revealing that I was not ready for the Soviet invasion. I have 1 Marine Corps and 1 Inf Corps now returning to action from service in India. This is an additional 80,000 men that could be used in my Soviet offensive but I need some time to get them in position. In addition, I've freed up a couple of Infantry divisions elsehere and they were given to 7th Corps but still have the long march to Harbin in Manchukuo. Also, General Kimura's Mtn. troops in the Airgin Su Mountains of Mengkukuo, have a last division in a Strat-deploy from Tianjin.

So, I decided to complete Operation Stranglehold first and delay my next plan till all available land forces were in place.

To complete "Stranglehold" Palmyra was my 1st target. With my invasion Fleets sailing towards our invasion of Palmyra, a significant Sea-Battle occured in the Western seas.
- My vaunted "Rising Sun" BB Fleet encountered a small French BB squadron made up of the BBs Ocean & Bretagne {Pride} and the Light-Crusier Jeanne d' Arc. We sunk all three but unfortunely I lost the CA Myoko after it had sunk its
8th ship {the lone crusier} before going down.

My delaying the land war and deciding to finish my naval plan soon revealed I had chosen very wisely, I'm glad I waited. The U.S. Fleet was present and in good numbers in those islands as my invasions soon revealed. Had I ignored this U.S. toe-hold, I might have began losing islands fairly quickly. Remember, most ports are only guarded by 2x GARs. You see, the U.S. with all their dang CVs do not need to have an airbase at their port to be formidable in the air, when they have 3-4 carriers together, they carry their airfields around with them.

The Invasion of Palmyra
{Battle of Kingman Ridge Halsey vs Nagano}
1st contact - US lost 3 DDs - 2nd contact - US losses USS Arkansas, a TP and LC
22 Nov.
- US lost 3 Subs in Palmyra Atoll Pass
- Two Partisan-uprisings in China. Will they ever be subdued?
26 Nov.
- A skirmish in Palmyra Atoll Pass - US lost a DD
28 Nov.
- Another skirmish in Palmyra Atoll Pass - US lost the CL Honolulu
29 Nov.
Another skirmish in Palmyra Atoll Pass - US lost the CA Salt Lake City
* I brought Admiral Ozawa's 2nd BB down from Honolulu to relieve 1st BB
* First of my new Militias arrived in Rangoon.
- {Battle of Palmyra Atoll Pass} Nagumo CV Fleet (Akagi, Kaga, Amagi) vs Burke BB
Fleet (W.Virginia, Colorado and Maryland) US lost the BB Colorado, CA Pensacola, a DD
and one Sub.
30 Nov.
- The CV fleet finds a US transport fleet. Sinks only 1 LC
1 Dec. I sent 2nd BB Fleet into Pearl for repairs. Several ships were in serious shape.
*** CAS/CAG Pilot training now 2 years ahead.***
Battle for Palmyra Island - I send in 1 Marine division against 1 American garrison and 1 Infantry division.
4 Dec. US loses another LC
5 Dec. We capture Palmyra. We lost 1206 marines but after losing 1453 men the 12,400 U.S. soldiers surrender.
- Halfway around the world a lone British DD is sunk in Eastern Gulf of Aden. The next day 3 more UK ships are found and sunk. 2 DDs and a transport.

On this date Dec 7th 1941...2 British LCs go down. To think of how much war I have already fought by this traditional start date. Whew baby!

One island down 4 more to go. Since I've delayed my main-invasion, my Marines are headed for the remaining islands; Jarvis, Christmas Island, Attu and American Samoa. I think American Samoa is also an important base to capture because, if it remains, the Americans can use it as a staging-base to attack either of my puppets, Australia and New Zealand. If the U.S. can land troops there while I'm invading Russia?...that would likely be a serious problem and possibly a nasty disaster.

 

[sebas379]

Good, drive the Americans back to their homeland, they won't be much of a threat after this. Then the Soviets will be in real trouble.

 

[markkur]

“Two Out of Three isn’t Bad”​

With Palmyra captured it was time to move on the other islands. Jarvis and Christmas Island I wanted first but since I was bringing 2 Marine Corps from the mainland I also decided to attack American Samoa.

I assaulted Jarvis on the 20th of December. The island was undefended but 26 American ships were in port. Just like when I took Palmyra, a running Naval-Battle ensued. My Marines were on the island quickly but the U.S. lost BB USS West Virginia, 5 DDs and 1 LC. The next island proved more difficult.

In attacking Christmas the next day, (sounds funny) I knew the remainder of the Jarvis fleet had fled there but what I did not know was how many ships were already there? This time the land-fight for the island was the best one yet with my 2 Marine divisions facing 2 American Marine divisions and both sides having a good general. However, once again I took an allied-island and again, the U.S. fleet took large losses.

In the Battle of Kiribati Pass U.S. Admiral Kincaid lost BB USS Texas, CV Enterprise and the LC Omaha before fleeing. Admiral Reeves came out of port and lost 3 DDs and 2 of 3 SS he was commanding. Hours later, Admiral Burke came from out of nowhere with another large fleet but he ran into my newly arriving 2nd Battleship fleet led by Japanese Admiral Osami. The BB USS California was sunk along with a DD, 4 LC and 1 TP. Clearly the U.S. were indeed setting up an launching-pad for invasions at Christmas Island…exactly as I had feared. I am very glad I chose to eliminate these American bases before doing anything else.

While I had several powerful fleets in action around Jarvis and Christmas and knew I was seeing a lot of ships, I decided I might as well strike American Samoa; should not be much there right? So, I sent a small BB-squadron down to American Samoa to escort Marines and take the last port in this part of the Pacific.

Here’s where my worry about (American toe-holds) was truly confirmed. As my small bombardment fleet waited for the LCs to arrive, Admiral Nimitz and a fleet of 64 ships attacked. This huge fleet had avoided my fleets to the north and went after easy prey! I frantically hit the withdraw button until my fleet pulled away and then I luckily was able to halt the Marines before being intercepted by the doom-stack and returned them to their base at Kwajalein. I lost 2 of the 6 escorting DD flotillas that escorted the Yamato and Mushashi. Even though this was no victory, the Yamato did manage to sink the American Heavy-Cruiser Chicago.

This last U.S. held island is going to be a slug-fest. Once my fleets are ready for battle they will head to American Samoa for a capitol clash, unless that huge fleet left and is regrouping after the defeats. Then I can take Attu and Operation Stranglehold will finally be complete. Then it will have to be maintained, which could prove interesting.

For the 1st time in the war Japan rules the waves in number of vessels. What put us there, is that in the month of war between the Empire of Japan and the U.S. we have sunk 69 American ships.

Here is an overview of the overall status of the top 3 Axis and Allied navies as of 31 Dec. 1941.

JAP. - BC 1 - BB 9 - CV 6 - DD 44 - CVL 1 - CA 11 - CL 29 - SS 9 = 100 warships
ITA. - BC 0 - BB 4 - CV 0 - DD 12 - CVL 0 - CA 8 - CL 7 - SS 7 = 38 warships
GER - BC 0 - BB 2 - CV 0 - DD 8 - CVL 0 - CA 1 - CL 1 - SS 8. = 20 warships

* Note; Surprisingly both the Bismarck and the Tirpitz are still afloat. Bismarck was last spotted of the S.E. coast of Ireland and Tirpitz was repairing in Koningsberg. This is a different war; it’s almost 1942.

USA - BC 0 - BB 5 - CV 8 - DD 40 - CVL 4 - CA 13 - CL 7 - SS 3 = 80 warships
ENG - BC 0 - BB 0 - CV 4 - DD 18 - CVL 2 - CA 0 - CL 4 - SS 1. = 29 warships
CAN - BC 0 - BB 0 - CV 0 - DD 17 - CVL 0 - CA 0 - CL 0 - SS 6. = 23 warships

* If the U.S. loses another 11 ships of any type, they will also lose Grand-Fleet status. I am hoping that will happen at the upcoming Battle for American Samoa.

I continued to patrol around the British island of Socotra {at the southern-entrance to the Canal} and have continued to sink British DDs and transports.

1942 starts with only two American Pacific bases remaining.

 

[Guaro90]

I got almost the same results in my last vanilla japan game, i invest early in carrier and bb, i completely ignored mothorized division and i literally crushed US NAVY and the royal navy, by 1942 all the USN was at the bottom of the sea

 

[sebas379]

wow, good work on the Americans.
Germany 8 cv? Are you sure about that?

 

[markkur]

I got almost the same results in my last vanilla japan game, i invest early in carrier and bb, i completely ignored mothorized division and i literally crushed US NAVY and the royal navy, by 1942 all the USN was at the bottom of the sea

Just curious, did you also deploy x2 Garrisons at all ports?

 

[markkur]

wow, good work on the Americans.
Germany 8 cv? Are you sure about that?

Typo or brain-fart. Now THAT would be a different game and AAR. "German Carriers Blitz Atlantic"