Chapter 23: Home For Christmas?
After last chapter, I feel quite confident that there is no way that Japan can win anymore, even with the loss of 4 battleships. Besides, I would really like to end Japan this year, leaving the US free to fully devote all of its attention to the liberation of Europe.
I rebase 2 of my spend CAGs to Guam and fly 2 CAGs, who by now are all but fully organised, over to take their place.
Throughout this chapter I keep sinking the occasional Italian or Japanese convoy in the Carribean or south of Ireland. Anything to bring the enemy’s NU down, helps in the long run.
I am going to have to wait just a bit longer, though, until my reinforcements (read: ship repairs) go down. Note that, in the worst possible scenario, I still have 3 carriers in production, along with a couple of light cruisers and destroyers.
Another thing that is worth keeping in mind, is the way that the AI uses your supply slider. It can calculate pretty accurately how long you can last with the current amount of supplies, and is quite willing to go months without putting any points in that slider. The 0.03 IC you see there is probably a rounding error.
Under normal situations, this is fine, as it leaves more IC for other things. The only time you really have to keep a very close watch on it, is during Barbarossa, when you will sometimes lose almost 1000 supplies per day. As Germany, try to keep production and upgrades to a bare minimum, so that you can put all of it in reinforcements and supply production.
The 2nd Marine Division is ready for action. I deploy them in San Diego, where they will be on standby in case of an emergency, like a surprise landing on Honolulu. Of course, for them to be of any use, I will need a fleet to carry them. It’s only a matter of days until the Assault Ships are ready. When they are, I add 3 of them to the queu.
They have exactly the same stats as Landing Craft, but they offer more protection to the crew and passengers in exchange for just a small increase in IC.
The transport planes are also ready. They too will be stationed in San Diego, along with the paratroopers, so that I can fly them anywhere in the Pacific in no time. I add another armour divison (my 6th) and 1 M/R to the mix.
Since the Japanese are just as busy repairing as I am, it is relatively safe to transfer 1 garrison from Guam to Saipan. At this point, losing Guam is no longer a big deal. I have my final stepping stone for Japan. Iwo Jima must be held until I have successfully landed on Japanese soil. After that, who cares?
In preparations for the final push, I reorganise my surface fleets. 1st Fleet will carry all the ships that are (almost) fully repaired, while 5th Fleet will carry all the damaged surface ships, heading for Midway for safety.
Here is the invasion plan. The Assault Fleet and 1st Fleet will take up position in the bay, while both carrier task forces will protect the flanks. From this bay, I have easy access to at least 4 level-10 ports, while 1st Fleet's big guns will allow me to bombard the coast on a large scale. I will need these ports, as I plan to unload the entire army. As soon as I have provinces with airfields, I will rebase my fighters and tactical bombers to Japan, so that they can get to work as well. Remember that planes lose some of their Org when rebased, so it is vital that I can do this early.
CTF 2 runs into a lone CVL the moment they get into position. Needless to say that it is hopelessly outgunned.
I could use the CAGs to support the land battles, but I want them protecting my navies. Besides, if they run into land-based fighters, they’re toast anyway.
The Assault Fleet is in place and debarkation begins. Can you see how I’m doing this? 1 Corps will take care of the island in the south, while another one will take the island in the middle of the bay. The rest will each take 1 port. I am landing on either side of the port so that it becomes much harder to defend against. If they have troops guarding the ports, they will have to choose whether to turn left or right. However they do it, I can outflank them. If they don’t move, I can attack from both sides at once. It’s a win/win situation, unless the enemy has other units stationed nearby.
Now, I have never played multiplayer HOI 3 in my life, but I can imagine that there is a very real danger here against a competent human player. This will become evident once the troops are actually on land, but it bears mentioning now. My army will be spread out in small groups all over the southern part of Japan. If there are a lot of defenders in the area, they could cut them off and take them down one at a time. The AI, however, is usually not very adept at protecting large islands, such as the UK or Japan, so I am not worried. All I have to do, is move fast enough.
The fall of Singapore is a really bad event for UK, which I believe costs them 10% NU (I believe; correct me if I'm wrong). In this case, however, it is not all that significant since an invasion of the British Isles is highly unlikely at this point. The important piece of information is that Japan has a lot of troops that are too far away to intervene here.
Osaka will be the center of my advance. Failing to grab it ASAP, means that my army will be split in two and that could prove fatal. It has to be taken and held until I can grab the ports further south and bring everyone north. Together with Sasebo, Nagasaki, Hiroshima and the other ports, I have more than enough capacity to feed the army and airforce.
Nagoya is another port, but there is a secondary objective here. I have to keep these guys on the defensive so that they can’t interfere with the attack on Osaka.
Mountaineers are excellent on defense, and they are in Urban terrain behind a river, so my men will have their work cut out for them. The point here is not to take the city, but to pin them down long enough for the rest of the corps to make their way north.
Osaka falls after less than a day, so I can anchor the Assault Fleet in port, where they will be less at risk. It also has a large airfield, so I will be bringing in the first couple of fighter groups from around the Pacific islands shortly.
First, though, I need to take care of something else. Rather than dragging the Pacific Theater HQ along with me, why don’t I simply create a new one? It will be very fragile at first, so I will have to protect it carefully, but it’s an HQ. They’re not meant to fight anyway. Doing this will allow me to add every unit, ship and plane in the vicinity to the 1st Army Group for reduced supply needs.
Oh, and like I said before, notice how divided I am right now. This is the most precarious moment of the invasion. Thankfully, with Osaka in my hands, I have a strong defensive center to fall back on in case things go wrong.
I am not going to bore you with every single ship that the Japanese threw at me, because they mostly come in small groups. I mean, really, AI. I know about Banzai charges, but that was supposed to be the IJA, not the IJN. Squadrons of between 1 and 4 ships? Often just a couple of LC? What did you hope that would accomplish?
Suffice it to say, it is a turkey shoot for the most part. Only at one point do they manage to assemble anything resembling a decent fleet. Of course, by that time, they only have a couple of capital ships left, so I don’t even have to bring in both CTFs at that point.
Susaki falls on the 5th. Another level-10 port with a level-10 airfield. Good. Now I can bring the rest of the planes over, keeping 1st Fleet under cover of land-based interceptors at all times. Very handy indeed. By 7 PM that same day, Kyoto is mine. This is an urban province, which makes it easy to defend, and it is right next to Osaka, helping to protect the flank of my main port.
Remember when I said that the AI could be damn stubborn? I am invading their home island, and am halfway toTokyo already.
“Never mind that, we’re going to attack Guam with 4 frontline divisions!”
Ok, have fun!
My only response is to move the reserve CAGs to Midway for safekeeping. Sorry about the garrison, but it is expendable at this point.
By the 6th, if becomes painfully obvious that attacking Nagoya with 2 infantry divisions across a river is not a good idea and I end the attack, losing 1432 men versus their 171. I will have to wait until I can get things organised. They did their job, however, allowing me to secure Osaka and Kyoto with ease.
Hiroshima falls on the 7th. Level 10 port. Level 10 airfield. Nice. That will keep the supplies coming in!
When the going gets tough, use flanking attacks and the “support attack” mission. Works like a charm, even against such stubborn defense.
Then, when the attackers take control of the province, turn things around. Now they will use “Support Attack”, while the other ones will attack. Fighting in Japan is like a knife fight in a phone booth because of how narrow the island is, but the skills you need are exactly the same as for Barbarossa. Multiple axes of attack and flanking attacks whenever you can.
In this particular case, I can spoil the Japanese counterattack by coming in from the flank before they can get any traction.
It takes me until the 14th to remember that I have Tac bombing Nagoya. By that time, they’re in urgent need of some R&R, but they have done their job, reducing the Org of the defenders to zero. By 11that evening, the defenders give up and make a run for it. This second attack cost me 2446 men versus their 2343. Mountaineers in a city behind a river. Hell on earth!
By this time, I can cover every frontline province with a single fighter or interceptor group, leaving the Japanese airforce unable to gain the upper hand.
Watch the combat modifiers, though. Their nighttime combat modifier is -46 versus my -25. That means that Japan has not been keeping their radar techs up-to-date.
It takes me until the 22nd of October to fully protect my rear. Once I get those men to the frontline, I will enjoy a numerical superiority and then, it’s just a matter of time, though I do keep 6 divisions guarding the various ports in the south. After all, Japan does have an army elsewhere, in China, Malaysia, the Phillipines and who knows where else.
By the 1st of November, I am finally starting to get things organised, and Japan really is doomed now. Oh, they try to use fighters and bombers to supplement their lack of troops, but I have more of those as well, and they’re all within range.
The Phillipines fall on the 4th, when I am on the outskirts of Tokyo. In this reality, the occupation of Manilla will not last very long.
I had not expected that I would be able to pull off an encirclement, but Tokyo is surrounded. At least for a while. They manage to break through (my fault; I only put 1 division in Hitachi) and run, but it takes them a long time, and all the while, they are being hammered from the south. Tokyo falls on the 3rd of December.
Japan surrenders and becomes my puppet on the 22nd of December. I made it with 3 days to spare!
Japan becomes a member of the allies. By now, their naval Banzai charges have cost them dearly. They have 1 BB, 1 CV, 4 DD, 3 LC, 2 CL, 2 SS and 4 TP. A grand total of 17 ships is all that is left of the Imperial Japanese Navy.
On the other hand, they have the third largest airforce (2 CAGs, 19 bombers and 7 fighters) of the allies and the largest army (!!) with 296 brigades, mostly infantry-based.
Germany is on the backfoot in Soviet Russia, and Italy is slowly being kicked out of Palestine by the British. If I were to keep this campaing going, this would have been the perfect time to start transferring everything to the UK.
So, that was it for my USA. I hope you had fun and learned how to maximize the potential of the most powerful nation on earth (with the possible exception of the SU). I mean, really, the power kick you get from going to war with 600 IC is one of the biggest highs that the game can offer for me. It is great, and what’s even better, is that there is so little risk of an actual invasion that you can’t lose. So new players, once you get used to naval combat, give the USA a try. You’ll love it, but don’t underestimate the IJN.
Despite my remarks, they are without a doubt the most advanced navy on earth at the start of the game, and they have a couple of awesome admirals. When used correctly (AI, I’m looking at you!), they can be a real powerhouse on the high seas.
When I come back, I will be playing another nation. See you then!
