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Yeah only sometimes. But you will be surprised in what is to come. One might believe it's a MP game.
I love how this has become kind of a AARland meme.
There's no better use of PP than recruiting the very capable trade ministers
Nice overview ... need better and bigger guns though
@Tom D. 's greatest achievement - and one I personally feel of which he should be rightfully proud.I love how this has become kind of a AARland meme.
Nice overview ... need better and bigger guns though
@Tom D. 's greatest achievement - and one I personally feel of which he should be rightfully proud.
We don't need bigger guns when we have the one true ideology (and millions of men), but yes bigger guns are needed.. Despite having enormous potential, the USSR have been fun to play with that it takes a while before you get extra research slots and few research bonuses. But we will get there.. eventually.
And of course he spoke of Belgium, stupid me
. But such an achievements do deserve acknowledgement!
Chapter 23.
Chapter 23: Sleeping Giants.
Trotsky in his prime; speaking of his own successes.
On new years eve Trotsky held a speech for his forces in Germany, preparing them for their mission in Japan. There he said
"Comrades, men of the Red Army and Red Navy, commanders and political instructors, men and women guerillas, the whole world is looking to you as the force capable of destroying the plundering hordes of Japanese invaders. The enslaved peoples of Europe who had fallen under the yoke of the German invaders look to you as their liberators. Now the ensalved people of Asia look to you as their liberators from the Japanese yoke. A great liberating mission has fallen to your lot. Be worthy of this mission! The war you are waging is a war of liberation, a just war. Let the manly images of our great ancestors—Alexander Nevsky, Dimitry Donskoy, Kuzma Minin, Dimitry Pozharsky, Alexander Suvorov and Mikhail Kutuzov—inspire you in this war! May the victorious banner of the great Lenin be your lodestar!
For the complete destruction of the Japanese invaders!
Death to the Japanese invaders!
Long live our glorious Motherland, her liberty and her independence!
Under the banner of Lenin, forward to victory!"
Of course we develop this for civilian purposes..
Soviet spy rings that had inflitrated the Manhattan Project was impressed with the development the Allied scientists had in the clandenstine project. Reports was given back to the directorates of science and the armed forces who in turn sent it all the way up to the Politburo and Trotsky. It was concluded that the Research City Experiment activated in 1942 led by Kurchatov had to be stepped up and needed further funding. Kurchatov had promised that breaking up a kilogram of uranium had the potential of releasing an explosion equal to 20.000 tons of trotyl (20.000.000 kg). It was decided that if the Americans had the potential to develop a reactor to create such a weapon of mass destruction the USSR needed one to, or the revolution would be blown apart by the western nations. By the 1st of January 1943 Trotsky wrote a special decree giving Kurchatov and his team (with the help of several German scientists and stolen information from the Manhattan Project) all the resources they needed to create the F-1 nuclear reactor outside of Moscow.*
Low on supplies, organization and extremely low fighting force, the DVVO are bailing.
Regardless of scientific progress there was still a landwar going on in Asia. The DVVO Mechanized Corps had been cut off from the main forces in China with two British divisions. This meant that they couldn'nt be reinforced by men and most importantly they were running out of tanks and fuel alike. The Corps was effectively combat ineffective. They were ordered to traverse through the dense forests and hopefully link up with the seaport east of them to replenish their needs.
But the Japanese sprint toward glorious battle!
But Japanese forces was detirmined to score their first victory in the area. If they managed to eradicate the pocket near 10.000 Soviet soldiers would be lost - and many more British. Along with that hundreds of superior T-60, T-34, Crusader and Cromwell tanks would be defeated. If the Japanese didin't win the battle they would at the very least tie their enemies up and prevent them from linking up with their friendly forces. As such the Japanese forces inflitrated the forests and prepared for an all out assault on the British and Soviet lines.
If they don't reach the port they're more or less doomed.
That attack came on 1900 hours the 2nd of January**. The sun had just set and darkness came over the frontlines. The Japanese had moved into position all night and morning the day before and had been in position the entire day before they attacked on the unprepared enemy. The trees covered them from the British and Soviet planes and no artillery attack preceeded their assault. The inflitration had worked and British forces was overwhelmed at first as several formations of Japanese soldiers poured on them. In turn the Soviet DVVO corps had their eastward advancing column ambushed by Japanese soldiers who for the most part used improvised weapons, such as molotov cocktails, on older models of the T-34 and BT-7 who didn't have completely wielded armor. Soviet and British forces soon managed to reorganise, but the Japanese had halted their extraction and the dense forests and fighting in darkness created several issues for the allied forces.
The Japanese really fight hard for their trees.
All night long Japanese infantrists moved out from the treelines in suicidal attacks before they pulled back and attacked from a different direction. The dense forests, lack of communication and visibility combined gave the defending forces a difficult time to see where the enemy was coming from, when they extracted and where they attacked from next. A Soviet artillery observer said "We had them in our sights. The tracers from our MGs and their MGs gave away their positions. But our forces diddn't stop firing even after the Japanese extracted. In all the smoke, fog and confusion they didn't see when they pulled away. This resulted in we calling in bombardments on the wrong areas, soon after the barrages the Japanese came from a different location hitting our forces and the process repeated itself.
The fronts are again united, now onward to Hong Kong.
By the evening of the 7th the Japanese forces was decisively beaten back. Their plan was clever. A division from the north-west binded up the British and Soviet forces while another one moved in from the north-east to catch the allied forces in a pincer attack. But by the end of the British and Soviet forces proved to be superior. Britisha and Soviet fighter bombers and medium bombers provided close air support on probable Japanese lines, axis of advance and supply routes. While the accuracy of these bombing runs was so and so it had a major psychological effect on the IJA. Allied artillery was also utilized to the fullest and the dense forests proved to be their advantage. AT, AA, rocket and howitzer rouds was fired directly into the forest tempered for explosion by contact. This resulted in the rounds exploding by the treetops or on the middle, which again created a devastating splinter effect and hellish conditions in the forests. During daylight the DVVO corps advanced to the east taking on the Japanese division avancing from there along with a British and Soviet infantry division attacking from the east forcing the Japanese infantry division to retreat. Meanwhile the Japanese division who inflitrated the lines from the west had been wiped out.
Soviet forces (with American issued helmets for whatever reasons) battling through the forests and hills of southern China.
Despite this victory the trials for the forces in the south was far from over. The Soviet forces who pushed toward Hong Kong faced heavy resistance, and so did the main Soviet force from attacking Japanese forces. The battles in the hills and forests of southern China was very different from the plains of Siberia or Europe. Tanks, air support and artillery were less effective when clearing out the hills that swarmed with Japanese soldiers. But these hills couldn't be bypassed or ignored either as the Japanese used them for observation posts and staging ground for harassing missions. Thousands died in clearing out Japanese caves and spiderholes. British and Soviet soldiers was shocked when they entered the caves as they found Japanese soldiers rather blowing themself up with grenades rather than being taken captive. These forces was now facing what the Americans called the "Pacific Experience".
Why can't they just allow us to join with our main force?
Early morning of the 15th the DVVO was finding itself pushing alone toward the main force. Several British formations had participated in beating back Venezuelan forces, but was cautious when advancing further. The DVVO faced a well entrenched enemy in the forest splitting the main force and them from eachother. The few remaining tanks had a hard time getting through the forest and the risk of casualties of these precious tanks was just too high to allow them to advance through this forest. The infantry had instead to dismount from their trucks and advance into the forest in hazardous patrols and assaults. Now the tables had turned, the Soviet forces had little artillery support and the Japanese was spitting barrages from machine guns and artillery into the advancing Soviet lines. The Soviet soldiers who had experienced the traumatic battles near Vladivostok could only agree upon one thing: war is hell.
Those pesky war mongering Americans won't let us wage wars on our own!
Meanwhile Soviet intelligence (many of them informed by Americans who fought for the Republicans in Spain) picked up reports that America was preparing for a war with the USSR in Europe and Asia following the conclusion of the war with Japan. The alarm bells rang in the Kreml and they started to prepare for a war of their own. However the intelligence services failed to explain that War Plan White was mostly a defensive war, but this greatly soured Soviet-US relations as both became paranoid of eachother and their mutual distrust grew. But for now the facade of good relations was mainted publically to not hurt the war effort.***
You said Tannu-what?
In 1943 Trotsky instructed both the government of the Tuvan People's Republic and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic to prepare for the former to be annexed by the latter. The Tuvan republic had once been part of the Russian Empire and was made communist by the Soviet forces during the revolution and the civil war. Ever since the Tuvan state had been a de-facto satelite state only being recognized by the Soviet Union and the Mongolian People's Republic. Trotsky argued that Tannu Tuva was to join Russia on historical basis and to counter a potential Japanese occupation and an end to the proletarian dictatorship.
It's time to dig in as the offensive operations have concluded.
The night between the 6th and 7th of February the Soviet forces in southern China was ordered to take up defensive positions in Hong Kong and west of the city. High Command instructed Popov that the goal of Red Fury had been achieved. Japanese forces had been distrupted, suffered heavy casualties, lost vital iron resources and pulled several divisions worth of infantry away from the north and to the south clearing the way for a Soviet offensive in the north. Now they were to dig in and conduct only minor tactical offensies.
Viet Minh; liberators of Indochina.
Viet Minh (League for the Independence of Vietnam) was a nationalist indepence league formed in opposition to Free French (not to be confused with Communard French), Japanese and German occupation. The Soviet Union and Communard France soon saw the potential in this movements and educated most of its leaders in Moscow or Paris, while Republican Spain trained them in irregular warfare both in Spain and in Vietnam. As a preparation to the invasion of Indochina the OSS also saw their potential and funded and trained the Viet Minh even sending in special operatives deep into Vietnam, despite the League taking a pro communist and Kreml approach.
Allied troops invade Saigon for the impending liberation of Indochina.
On the morning of the 16th of February British, Dutch, Canadian and Spanish led International Brigades (communist, socialist and left-wing volunteers from around the world) secured a beachhead in Saigon. The Nazi Remnants and Japanese garrisons didn't expect an attack into Indochina. By taking Saigon and all of Vietnam allied forces hoped to deprive the Axis war machine of resources and to close down the Saigon road, encircling Axis forces in Siam and Burma and opening up a new front of invasion into China. Saigon fell without opposition, but soon Venezuelan volunteer forces counterattacked the city. But the allied forces was just too concentrated and held the streets of Saigon with the population joining in on the defense and the Viet Minh harassing Venezuelan forces and paving the way for the liberation of their homeland.
The great leader of the free people of Vietnam Ho Chi Minh . Backed up by both Americans and Soviets.
Hồ Chí Minh was the leader of Viet Minh and represented a free Vietnam. He first became exposed to Communism as he trained to become a chef in London and following the armistice during WWII he encouraged the great powers to liberate Indochina riding on the wave of national detirmination and Wilson's 14 Points, but he was ignored. The 14 points was aimed at the losing powers not the winning side. Following the war Ho Chi Minh became one of the founding members of the French Communist Party and became schooled in Paris and Moscow. Following the French defeat by the hands of the Germans Ho Chi Minh became a leading figure, despite all odds, during the French Communist Revolution. There his advocacy of a liberated Indochina was finally welcomed with open arms and he was trained by the Spanish Republic and the NKVD to conduct irregular warfare against the Germans in Indochina. In 1941 he was sent to Vietnam with large contigents of veteran International Brigadists and quickly became the leading figure of the indepence movement in Indochina. When Allied forces took Saigon he ordered a mass revolt in Indochina hoping to gain indepence. The Viet Minh named Saigon "Ho Chi Minh City" in Uncle Ho's honor as they retook the city hoping it would be the staging ground for a free Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.****
A second front is opened up in the north to liberate Vietnam.
The fighting in Saigon continued on to fan out in the areas surrounding the city and into the jungles and hills. The Viet Minh paved the way for the Allied forces. While the few Axis in Indochina was occupied fighting the invading forces in Saigon or in southern China a second Dutch-Commonwealth invasion, backed up by US Rangers, landed on the beaches south of Hanoi which was the seat of the Nazi Remants. Meanwhile the DVVO corps and the Rifle Division had broken out from the pocket and joined the mainforce. Two British divisions remained behind to protect the lone seaport, to deprive the Japanese and Chinese forces from gaining equipment and forces from that port. Now that Hanoi looked to fall the Axis forces in Indochina and southern China was in a danger of becoming isolated.
Brave, yet foolish Kamikaze attacks on the American naval forces.
While Japan was occupied in Indochina, Burma, Siberia and southern China a massive naval fleet amassed on the shores of Japan. Fresh from Europe a colossal naval force of 6 battleships, 5 heavy cruisers (main guns being 5 inches), 20 light cruisers, 139 destroyers and 508 other ships (frigates, auxiliary, transports etc.) clouded the horizon of Japan. These ships opened up with their deadly payloads on the Japanese beach and defensives in depth just short after 2.200 allied bombers had dropped their loads over the beaches. The bombers and ships positioned themself in the cover of darkness and opened up on early morning. But the Japanese had a surprising defensive measures. 2.000 airplanes launched attack after attack on the barraging warships. Instead of firing weapons they rammed the ships head on in Kamikaze attacks. Despite only 1 in 9 of these attacks hitting their target it disrupted the initial allied invasion wave and their bombardment. However as they focused mostly on the cruisers, battleships and destroyers these attacks had limited success "only" killing around 1.78 men per hit.
American forces prepare to land in Japan, and meet a wall of bullets and grenades.
The allied invasion force was well underway despite the tragic Kamikaze attacks claiming thousands of lives. During the night the American 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions along with the British 6th Airborne Division dropped to their designated zones to prevent Japanese reinforcements, disrupt their lines and take out artillery. On the morning the landings began with the US 1st Army and the British 2nd Army spearheading the attacks. The landing zone would be split into five sectors/beaches. Fresh from Europe having plenty of time to rehearse, refit and rest the Allied forces would assault the Japanese beaches. The American forces the 1st and 29th Infantry Division (ID) would assault on Omaha, 4th and 90th ID on Utah. The British would attack Gold Beach with the 50th ID and Sword Beach with the 4th ID. Meanwhile Canadian troops, supported by Dutch regiments, would land on Juno Beach with the 3rd ID. Operation: Neptune the first of the landings of Operation: Downfall was underway.*****
American troopers being pinned down on the shores of Japan.
But the allied bombardments of Japan had little effect on the defenders. If anything it revealed to the defending Japanese that an invasion was underway. With large reserves in depth the Japanese reinforced their strong defensive lines by the beach and pounded the invaders with devastating artillery fire and tore them apart with furious machine gun fire. The landings would be extremely costly on all five beaches with Japanese airplanes taking off from their airfields just a few kilometers away to attack the men on the beaches, on the transports or by the sea. Machine guns, howiters and fighter bombers all converged into grim killzones. An American soldier said the only thing he remembered from the carnage was "I was there laying with six dead men around me". The battle was extremely costly and took an entire day with several waves to pull off. At one point it looked like the invasion force would be pushed back to sea and it would all be for nothing. But a Ranger Battalion saved the day and broke through the lines. Soon the other beaches fell, albeit at an extremely costly price. Over 34.000 total casualties was taken by the invading allies, with 15-20.000 dead or missing. “There’s a graveyard in southern Japan ((northern France, real quote)) where all the dead boys from D-Day are buried. The white crosses reach from one horizon to the other. I remember looking it over and thinking it was a forest of graves. But the rows were like this, dizzying, diagonal, perfectly straight, so after all it wasn’t a forest but an orchard of graves. Nothing to do with nature, unless you count human nature.” — Barbara Kingsolver, American novelist, essayist and poet.******
The invasion of Japan have finally begun. Will they finish the job?
The American, British, Canadian and Dutch forces soon gained control over Osaka and the surrounding areas, albeit at a horrible price. Thousands were dead and the fighting inland proved to be just as vicious if not worse. But the Japanese had nevertheless been caught off guard. They had anticipated the invasion to come first to Okinawa (the Allied had leaked plans for an immiment invasion of Okinawa to Japan) and then use it as a staging ground and airbase for an invasion of Kyūshū the southern most island (holding the city of Nagasaki), the Japanese was also distracted by the recent invasions in Vietnam and the heavy fighting in Burma and Siam. Near Osaka they had little air coverage and the Japanese had air superiority inland, however the Royal and US Navies fielded an impressive carieer fleet. They relied upon this to gain air superiority to harass the enemy forces and provide close air support. Morever both Japan and Allied forces concluded that it was only Kyūshū and the beaches just southeast of Tokyo was the only areas suited for a large scale amphibious landing. Landing by the beaches of Osaka was unexpected by the Japanese, but it was a huge gamble for the Allies to pull off the largest naval invasion in history on this location, it could easiley be twarthed. But it paid off, the Allies controlled a small portion of Japan.
Japanese civilians prepare to fight for the Home Islands, with everything they got, such as bamboo pikes. Who needs machineguns when you have weapons of bamboos?
Meanwhile the Japanese had organized the Volunteer Fighting Corps, which included all healthy men aged 15 to 60 and women 17 to 40 for a total of 28 million people, for combat support and, later, combat jobs. Weapons, training and uniforms were generally lacking: many were armed with nothing better than antiquated firearms, molotov cocktails, longbows, swords, knives, bamboo or wooden spears, and even clubs and truncheons; nevertheless, they were expected to make do with what they had. One mobilized high school girl, Yukiko Kasai, found herself issued an awl and told, "Even killing one American soldier will do. ... You must aim for the abdomen." They were expected to serve as a main reserve and "second defense line" during the Allied invasion, and to conduct guerrilla warfare in urban areas and mountains ((Plagiarized from wikipedia)). It remained to be seen if these volunteer units would pose a major threat or would be a mere nuisance to the invading allied forces... The Battle of Japan had just started, millions of casualties was expected on both sides. Japan had indeed woken the sleeping giants.
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*I managed to delete the screenshot, but I started to research "Nuclear Reactor" by the first of January 1943. This didn't happen IRL before 1945 or 1946, but I figured it made sense since the German scientists have already been captured and the new Trotskyist leadership might prioritize things different. And of course I as the player have much better foresight than the USSR did IRL. And if you want to know the progress for the rest of the powers when it comes to nukes:
**Timezone in that area is UTC+7. So basically in game hours + 7 hours. Now I will try to use the correct timezones, but I can't promise. So if you see that the written hour is different than on the screenshot it is because of different timezones.
***This does nothing on us. They can't declare war on us unless they go Fascist, however they might pick a national focus that will lower their trade relations with us by -100. And since we rely upon the US for oil imports - yikes!
****So I took some liberties to rewrite history. I think it is fitting that a commie France and Spain would support him and speeding up the renaming of Saigon a little bit. The actual naming of the city I remain neutral on.
*****I have been very creative and the Normandy Landings never took place in Normandy but in Japan instead and were faced with the Kamikaze attacks of Okinawa.
******Had to take some liberties here. Looked upon the maths for the casualties in Europe and the Pacific. 0.42 dead and missing and 2.16 total casualties/1,000 men/day in Europe and 1.95 dead and missing and 7.45 total casualties/1,000 men/day in the Pacific. Since the Normandy landings had higher casualties than rest of Europe (10,000+ casualties; 4,414 confirmed dead) I multiplied the differences between Europe and the Pacific to those numbers. Now 20.000 look very high, so I do not know if that would be true, so that's why I included a lower estimate too.
Aaand I backtrack on what I said about it will be more than 3 months of updates. The timeframe of the updates will now not be set in stone, but instead paced out what I think is fitting. The next update will come tommorow evening or on Friday. Also as a funfact the invasion of Japan first failed by the Allies. But my game crashed (it don't happen often) and when they invaded the next time they managed to succeed and remain in Japan. So that the Allies forces almost lost in the update is a "homage" to that, as they did indeed lose on time but the PC god decided that the allies should get another chance.
Trotsky in his prime; speaking of his own successes.
On new years eve Trotsky held a speech for his forces in Germany, preparing them for their mission in Japan. There he said
"Comrades, men of the Red Army and Red Navy, commanders and political instructors, men and women guerillas, the whole world is looking to you as the force capable of destroying the plundering hordes of Japanese invaders. The enslaved peoples of Europe who had fallen under the yoke of the German invaders look to you as their liberators. Now the ensalved people of Asia look to you as their liberators from the Japanese yoke. A great liberating mission has fallen to your lot. Be worthy of this mission! The war you are waging is a war of liberation, a just war. Let the manly images of our great ancestors—Alexander Nevsky, Dimitry Donskoy, Kuzma Minin, Dimitry Pozharsky, Alexander Suvorov and Mikhail Kutuzov—inspire you in this war! May the victorious banner of the great Lenin be your lodestar!
For the complete destruction of the Japanese invaders!
Death to the Japanese invaders!
Long live our glorious Motherland, her liberty and her independence!
Under the banner of Lenin, forward to victory!"
Of course we develop this for civilian purposes..
Soviet spy rings that had inflitrated the Manhattan Project was impressed with the development the Allied scientists had in the clandenstine project. Reports was given back to the directorates of science and the armed forces who in turn sent it all the way up to the Politburo and Trotsky. It was concluded that the Research City Experiment activated in 1942 led by Kurchatov had to be stepped up and needed further funding. Kurchatov had promised that breaking up a kilogram of uranium had the potential of releasing an explosion equal to 20.000 tons of trotyl (20.000.000 kg). It was decided that if the Americans had the potential to develop a reactor to create such a weapon of mass destruction the USSR needed one to, or the revolution would be blown apart by the western nations. By the 1st of January 1943 Trotsky wrote a special decree giving Kurchatov and his team (with the help of several German scientists and stolen information from the Manhattan Project) all the resources they needed to create the F-1 nuclear reactor outside of Moscow.*
Low on supplies, organization and extremely low fighting force, the DVVO are bailing.
Regardless of scientific progress there was still a landwar going on in Asia. The DVVO Mechanized Corps had been cut off from the main forces in China with two British divisions. This meant that they couldn'nt be reinforced by men and most importantly they were running out of tanks and fuel alike. The Corps was effectively combat ineffective. They were ordered to traverse through the dense forests and hopefully link up with the seaport east of them to replenish their needs.
But the Japanese sprint toward glorious battle!
But Japanese forces was detirmined to score their first victory in the area. If they managed to eradicate the pocket near 10.000 Soviet soldiers would be lost - and many more British. Along with that hundreds of superior T-60, T-34, Crusader and Cromwell tanks would be defeated. If the Japanese didin't win the battle they would at the very least tie their enemies up and prevent them from linking up with their friendly forces. As such the Japanese forces inflitrated the forests and prepared for an all out assault on the British and Soviet lines.
If they don't reach the port they're more or less doomed.
That attack came on 1900 hours the 2nd of January**. The sun had just set and darkness came over the frontlines. The Japanese had moved into position all night and morning the day before and had been in position the entire day before they attacked on the unprepared enemy. The trees covered them from the British and Soviet planes and no artillery attack preceeded their assault. The inflitration had worked and British forces was overwhelmed at first as several formations of Japanese soldiers poured on them. In turn the Soviet DVVO corps had their eastward advancing column ambushed by Japanese soldiers who for the most part used improvised weapons, such as molotov cocktails, on older models of the T-34 and BT-7 who didn't have completely wielded armor. Soviet and British forces soon managed to reorganise, but the Japanese had halted their extraction and the dense forests and fighting in darkness created several issues for the allied forces.
The Japanese really fight hard for their trees.
All night long Japanese infantrists moved out from the treelines in suicidal attacks before they pulled back and attacked from a different direction. The dense forests, lack of communication and visibility combined gave the defending forces a difficult time to see where the enemy was coming from, when they extracted and where they attacked from next. A Soviet artillery observer said "We had them in our sights. The tracers from our MGs and their MGs gave away their positions. But our forces diddn't stop firing even after the Japanese extracted. In all the smoke, fog and confusion they didn't see when they pulled away. This resulted in we calling in bombardments on the wrong areas, soon after the barrages the Japanese came from a different location hitting our forces and the process repeated itself.
The fronts are again united, now onward to Hong Kong.
By the evening of the 7th the Japanese forces was decisively beaten back. Their plan was clever. A division from the north-west binded up the British and Soviet forces while another one moved in from the north-east to catch the allied forces in a pincer attack. But by the end of the British and Soviet forces proved to be superior. Britisha and Soviet fighter bombers and medium bombers provided close air support on probable Japanese lines, axis of advance and supply routes. While the accuracy of these bombing runs was so and so it had a major psychological effect on the IJA. Allied artillery was also utilized to the fullest and the dense forests proved to be their advantage. AT, AA, rocket and howitzer rouds was fired directly into the forest tempered for explosion by contact. This resulted in the rounds exploding by the treetops or on the middle, which again created a devastating splinter effect and hellish conditions in the forests. During daylight the DVVO corps advanced to the east taking on the Japanese division avancing from there along with a British and Soviet infantry division attacking from the east forcing the Japanese infantry division to retreat. Meanwhile the Japanese division who inflitrated the lines from the west had been wiped out.
Soviet forces (with American issued helmets for whatever reasons) battling through the forests and hills of southern China.
Despite this victory the trials for the forces in the south was far from over. The Soviet forces who pushed toward Hong Kong faced heavy resistance, and so did the main Soviet force from attacking Japanese forces. The battles in the hills and forests of southern China was very different from the plains of Siberia or Europe. Tanks, air support and artillery were less effective when clearing out the hills that swarmed with Japanese soldiers. But these hills couldn't be bypassed or ignored either as the Japanese used them for observation posts and staging ground for harassing missions. Thousands died in clearing out Japanese caves and spiderholes. British and Soviet soldiers was shocked when they entered the caves as they found Japanese soldiers rather blowing themself up with grenades rather than being taken captive. These forces was now facing what the Americans called the "Pacific Experience".
Why can't they just allow us to join with our main force?
Early morning of the 15th the DVVO was finding itself pushing alone toward the main force. Several British formations had participated in beating back Venezuelan forces, but was cautious when advancing further. The DVVO faced a well entrenched enemy in the forest splitting the main force and them from eachother. The few remaining tanks had a hard time getting through the forest and the risk of casualties of these precious tanks was just too high to allow them to advance through this forest. The infantry had instead to dismount from their trucks and advance into the forest in hazardous patrols and assaults. Now the tables had turned, the Soviet forces had little artillery support and the Japanese was spitting barrages from machine guns and artillery into the advancing Soviet lines. The Soviet soldiers who had experienced the traumatic battles near Vladivostok could only agree upon one thing: war is hell.
Those pesky war mongering Americans won't let us wage wars on our own!
Meanwhile Soviet intelligence (many of them informed by Americans who fought for the Republicans in Spain) picked up reports that America was preparing for a war with the USSR in Europe and Asia following the conclusion of the war with Japan. The alarm bells rang in the Kreml and they started to prepare for a war of their own. However the intelligence services failed to explain that War Plan White was mostly a defensive war, but this greatly soured Soviet-US relations as both became paranoid of eachother and their mutual distrust grew. But for now the facade of good relations was mainted publically to not hurt the war effort.***
You said Tannu-what?
In 1943 Trotsky instructed both the government of the Tuvan People's Republic and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic to prepare for the former to be annexed by the latter. The Tuvan republic had once been part of the Russian Empire and was made communist by the Soviet forces during the revolution and the civil war. Ever since the Tuvan state had been a de-facto satelite state only being recognized by the Soviet Union and the Mongolian People's Republic. Trotsky argued that Tannu Tuva was to join Russia on historical basis and to counter a potential Japanese occupation and an end to the proletarian dictatorship.
It's time to dig in as the offensive operations have concluded.
The night between the 6th and 7th of February the Soviet forces in southern China was ordered to take up defensive positions in Hong Kong and west of the city. High Command instructed Popov that the goal of Red Fury had been achieved. Japanese forces had been distrupted, suffered heavy casualties, lost vital iron resources and pulled several divisions worth of infantry away from the north and to the south clearing the way for a Soviet offensive in the north. Now they were to dig in and conduct only minor tactical offensies.
Viet Minh; liberators of Indochina.
Viet Minh (League for the Independence of Vietnam) was a nationalist indepence league formed in opposition to Free French (not to be confused with Communard French), Japanese and German occupation. The Soviet Union and Communard France soon saw the potential in this movements and educated most of its leaders in Moscow or Paris, while Republican Spain trained them in irregular warfare both in Spain and in Vietnam. As a preparation to the invasion of Indochina the OSS also saw their potential and funded and trained the Viet Minh even sending in special operatives deep into Vietnam, despite the League taking a pro communist and Kreml approach.
Allied troops invade Saigon for the impending liberation of Indochina.
On the morning of the 16th of February British, Dutch, Canadian and Spanish led International Brigades (communist, socialist and left-wing volunteers from around the world) secured a beachhead in Saigon. The Nazi Remnants and Japanese garrisons didn't expect an attack into Indochina. By taking Saigon and all of Vietnam allied forces hoped to deprive the Axis war machine of resources and to close down the Saigon road, encircling Axis forces in Siam and Burma and opening up a new front of invasion into China. Saigon fell without opposition, but soon Venezuelan volunteer forces counterattacked the city. But the allied forces was just too concentrated and held the streets of Saigon with the population joining in on the defense and the Viet Minh harassing Venezuelan forces and paving the way for the liberation of their homeland.
The great leader of the free people of Vietnam Ho Chi Minh . Backed up by both Americans and Soviets.
Hồ Chí Minh was the leader of Viet Minh and represented a free Vietnam. He first became exposed to Communism as he trained to become a chef in London and following the armistice during WWII he encouraged the great powers to liberate Indochina riding on the wave of national detirmination and Wilson's 14 Points, but he was ignored. The 14 points was aimed at the losing powers not the winning side. Following the war Ho Chi Minh became one of the founding members of the French Communist Party and became schooled in Paris and Moscow. Following the French defeat by the hands of the Germans Ho Chi Minh became a leading figure, despite all odds, during the French Communist Revolution. There his advocacy of a liberated Indochina was finally welcomed with open arms and he was trained by the Spanish Republic and the NKVD to conduct irregular warfare against the Germans in Indochina. In 1941 he was sent to Vietnam with large contigents of veteran International Brigadists and quickly became the leading figure of the indepence movement in Indochina. When Allied forces took Saigon he ordered a mass revolt in Indochina hoping to gain indepence. The Viet Minh named Saigon "Ho Chi Minh City" in Uncle Ho's honor as they retook the city hoping it would be the staging ground for a free Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.****
A second front is opened up in the north to liberate Vietnam.
The fighting in Saigon continued on to fan out in the areas surrounding the city and into the jungles and hills. The Viet Minh paved the way for the Allied forces. While the few Axis in Indochina was occupied fighting the invading forces in Saigon or in southern China a second Dutch-Commonwealth invasion, backed up by US Rangers, landed on the beaches south of Hanoi which was the seat of the Nazi Remants. Meanwhile the DVVO corps and the Rifle Division had broken out from the pocket and joined the mainforce. Two British divisions remained behind to protect the lone seaport, to deprive the Japanese and Chinese forces from gaining equipment and forces from that port. Now that Hanoi looked to fall the Axis forces in Indochina and southern China was in a danger of becoming isolated.
Brave, yet foolish Kamikaze attacks on the American naval forces.
While Japan was occupied in Indochina, Burma, Siberia and southern China a massive naval fleet amassed on the shores of Japan. Fresh from Europe a colossal naval force of 6 battleships, 5 heavy cruisers (main guns being 5 inches), 20 light cruisers, 139 destroyers and 508 other ships (frigates, auxiliary, transports etc.) clouded the horizon of Japan. These ships opened up with their deadly payloads on the Japanese beach and defensives in depth just short after 2.200 allied bombers had dropped their loads over the beaches. The bombers and ships positioned themself in the cover of darkness and opened up on early morning. But the Japanese had a surprising defensive measures. 2.000 airplanes launched attack after attack on the barraging warships. Instead of firing weapons they rammed the ships head on in Kamikaze attacks. Despite only 1 in 9 of these attacks hitting their target it disrupted the initial allied invasion wave and their bombardment. However as they focused mostly on the cruisers, battleships and destroyers these attacks had limited success "only" killing around 1.78 men per hit.
American forces prepare to land in Japan, and meet a wall of bullets and grenades.
The allied invasion force was well underway despite the tragic Kamikaze attacks claiming thousands of lives. During the night the American 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions along with the British 6th Airborne Division dropped to their designated zones to prevent Japanese reinforcements, disrupt their lines and take out artillery. On the morning the landings began with the US 1st Army and the British 2nd Army spearheading the attacks. The landing zone would be split into five sectors/beaches. Fresh from Europe having plenty of time to rehearse, refit and rest the Allied forces would assault the Japanese beaches. The American forces the 1st and 29th Infantry Division (ID) would assault on Omaha, 4th and 90th ID on Utah. The British would attack Gold Beach with the 50th ID and Sword Beach with the 4th ID. Meanwhile Canadian troops, supported by Dutch regiments, would land on Juno Beach with the 3rd ID. Operation: Neptune the first of the landings of Operation: Downfall was underway.*****
American troopers being pinned down on the shores of Japan.
But the allied bombardments of Japan had little effect on the defenders. If anything it revealed to the defending Japanese that an invasion was underway. With large reserves in depth the Japanese reinforced their strong defensive lines by the beach and pounded the invaders with devastating artillery fire and tore them apart with furious machine gun fire. The landings would be extremely costly on all five beaches with Japanese airplanes taking off from their airfields just a few kilometers away to attack the men on the beaches, on the transports or by the sea. Machine guns, howiters and fighter bombers all converged into grim killzones. An American soldier said the only thing he remembered from the carnage was "I was there laying with six dead men around me". The battle was extremely costly and took an entire day with several waves to pull off. At one point it looked like the invasion force would be pushed back to sea and it would all be for nothing. But a Ranger Battalion saved the day and broke through the lines. Soon the other beaches fell, albeit at an extremely costly price. Over 34.000 total casualties was taken by the invading allies, with 15-20.000 dead or missing. “There’s a graveyard in southern Japan ((northern France, real quote)) where all the dead boys from D-Day are buried. The white crosses reach from one horizon to the other. I remember looking it over and thinking it was a forest of graves. But the rows were like this, dizzying, diagonal, perfectly straight, so after all it wasn’t a forest but an orchard of graves. Nothing to do with nature, unless you count human nature.” — Barbara Kingsolver, American novelist, essayist and poet.******
The invasion of Japan have finally begun. Will they finish the job?
The American, British, Canadian and Dutch forces soon gained control over Osaka and the surrounding areas, albeit at a horrible price. Thousands were dead and the fighting inland proved to be just as vicious if not worse. But the Japanese had nevertheless been caught off guard. They had anticipated the invasion to come first to Okinawa (the Allied had leaked plans for an immiment invasion of Okinawa to Japan) and then use it as a staging ground and airbase for an invasion of Kyūshū the southern most island (holding the city of Nagasaki), the Japanese was also distracted by the recent invasions in Vietnam and the heavy fighting in Burma and Siam. Near Osaka they had little air coverage and the Japanese had air superiority inland, however the Royal and US Navies fielded an impressive carieer fleet. They relied upon this to gain air superiority to harass the enemy forces and provide close air support. Morever both Japan and Allied forces concluded that it was only Kyūshū and the beaches just southeast of Tokyo was the only areas suited for a large scale amphibious landing. Landing by the beaches of Osaka was unexpected by the Japanese, but it was a huge gamble for the Allies to pull off the largest naval invasion in history on this location, it could easiley be twarthed. But it paid off, the Allies controlled a small portion of Japan.
Japanese civilians prepare to fight for the Home Islands, with everything they got, such as bamboo pikes. Who needs machineguns when you have weapons of bamboos?
Meanwhile the Japanese had organized the Volunteer Fighting Corps, which included all healthy men aged 15 to 60 and women 17 to 40 for a total of 28 million people, for combat support and, later, combat jobs. Weapons, training and uniforms were generally lacking: many were armed with nothing better than antiquated firearms, molotov cocktails, longbows, swords, knives, bamboo or wooden spears, and even clubs and truncheons; nevertheless, they were expected to make do with what they had. One mobilized high school girl, Yukiko Kasai, found herself issued an awl and told, "Even killing one American soldier will do. ... You must aim for the abdomen." They were expected to serve as a main reserve and "second defense line" during the Allied invasion, and to conduct guerrilla warfare in urban areas and mountains ((Plagiarized from wikipedia)). It remained to be seen if these volunteer units would pose a major threat or would be a mere nuisance to the invading allied forces... The Battle of Japan had just started, millions of casualties was expected on both sides. Japan had indeed woken the sleeping giants.
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*I managed to delete the screenshot, but I started to research "Nuclear Reactor" by the first of January 1943. This didn't happen IRL before 1945 or 1946, but I figured it made sense since the German scientists have already been captured and the new Trotskyist leadership might prioritize things different. And of course I as the player have much better foresight than the USSR did IRL. And if you want to know the progress for the rest of the powers when it comes to nukes:
By 1st of January USA have almost finished (50 days or so left) their nuclear reactor tech. So they are way ahead. Now I forced UK to research Atomic Research (or what it is called, that first tech) so that they might get nukes in the future. Since Canada and South Africa have 50% bonuses there I also forced them to research the same in order to give UK a bonus down the line. The others powers have no nuclear research to speak of (except for Germany who also have the first tech), perhaps I will force Belgium to go down the nuclear path in the future
But to conclude: USA is way ahead. USSR are a little behind. UK is very much behind.
But to conclude: USA is way ahead. USSR are a little behind. UK is very much behind.
**Timezone in that area is UTC+7. So basically in game hours + 7 hours. Now I will try to use the correct timezones, but I can't promise. So if you see that the written hour is different than on the screenshot it is because of different timezones.
***This does nothing on us. They can't declare war on us unless they go Fascist, however they might pick a national focus that will lower their trade relations with us by -100. And since we rely upon the US for oil imports - yikes!
****So I took some liberties to rewrite history. I think it is fitting that a commie France and Spain would support him and speeding up the renaming of Saigon a little bit. The actual naming of the city I remain neutral on.
*****I have been very creative and the Normandy Landings never took place in Normandy but in Japan instead and were faced with the Kamikaze attacks of Okinawa.
******Had to take some liberties here. Looked upon the maths for the casualties in Europe and the Pacific. 0.42 dead and missing and 2.16 total casualties/1,000 men/day in Europe and 1.95 dead and missing and 7.45 total casualties/1,000 men/day in the Pacific. Since the Normandy landings had higher casualties than rest of Europe (10,000+ casualties; 4,414 confirmed dead) I multiplied the differences between Europe and the Pacific to those numbers. Now 20.000 look very high, so I do not know if that would be true, so that's why I included a lower estimate too.
Aaand I backtrack on what I said about it will be more than 3 months of updates. The timeframe of the updates will now not be set in stone, but instead paced out what I think is fitting. The next update will come tommorow evening or on Friday. Also as a funfact the invasion of Japan first failed by the Allies. But my game crashed (it don't happen often) and when they invaded the next time they managed to succeed and remain in Japan. So that the Allies forces almost lost in the update is a "homage" to that, as they did indeed lose on time but the PC god decided that the allies should get another chance.
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They have a Red Navy and a Red Fleet selerste from each other? Or are they planning in having just one Fleet which is so large it patrols the entire world by itself?
"The fruits of victory are tumbling into our mouths too quickly."
But remember the final fight in Germany was very harsh. Perhaps this will be even worse Good catch. It is simply an error in spelling it twice, Red Navy is supposed to be Red Army
The Red Fleet and Soviet Navy is the same thing. The Red Fleet was just a popular nickname for the Navy.. Alltough having one gargantuan Fleet would be awesome. But to do so, we need to get rid of the American and British navies.
Chapter 24.
Chapter 24: Downfall.
A little bit of skiing is always good.
Winter had come. With temperatures far below zero degrees even battlehardened Russian and Siberian soldiers struggled in the extreme temperatures. Fingers froze to guns, guns malfunctioned regurally, soldiers died. But the spirits was high (at least publically) as over six hundred thousand of Soviets amassed at the border preparing to strike. Prepared to exact their revenge. While the average Soviet soldier merely fought for their homeland and to avenge their fallen comrades, the political elite of Kreml had other plans in mind. They intended to usher the world into revolution.
With Allied forces invading Japan we shall crush the Axis once and for all.
After extensive planning the three Fronts along the frontline got the order to attack. Operation: Polar Star wasn't meant to start before the harsh winter had passed away. Partly so that the commanders and staffs of the many armies could better coordinate their offensives and plan them, in part waiting for the European forces, but mostly to escape the wrath of General Winter. Moreover the Soviet leadership eyed an oppurtunity as Japan herself was under attack. Their Imperial enemy was now antipicated to be at its weakest, but they hadn't accounted for their sheer desperation. At 17:00 an 18:00 (depending on local timezones) on the 23rd as the winter darkness lowered itself over Xinjiang and Siberia the Red Army was ordered to attack. To stop at nothing. But a detirmined Japanese and Chinese defender showed the grim reality of war.
The offensive aren't going as good as predicted.
The cold winds swept across the extensive frontlines. It froze people down to their very bones meanwhile the bullets were sweeping across the fronts aswell. The situation on the front was brutal, unforgiving. The soil was frozen making it impossible to dig trenches, the snow made everyone wet (who in turn froze to ice) and gave away their positions and gave no cover. Soviet soldiers made improvised fortifications, while they were effective it showcased the sheer brutality of winter war. As their comrades fell to the enemy or hypothermia (or a mix) their entire bodies turned to frozen carcasses. In their death they coul offer their comrades cover. But the Polar Star operation had little gains and the hopes for a quick and decisive blow were all but given up upon. The winter was too severe and the defending Japanese and Chinese forces too entrenched. There was no last hurrah for the Soviet armies, only more hardship.
American forces advancing in Japan under constant battle.
Further to the east another war took place. Despite being in much more temperate climate it still embodied the horrors of war. American, British, Dutch and Canadian (and other smaller contigents) poured onto the beaches south of Osake heading toward the cultural city of Kyoto. But the Japanese fighters in the hills refused to give and fought to the very end. Raider Regiments was formed who constantly harrassed the invading armies. Allied operations intensified, but it became clear the Japanese defense did aswell. One aspect the Allied forces underestimated was the Japanese air forces. They had first estimated the Japanese to operate just a few thousand airplanes, but it soon became appereant they had several magnitues higher. The distances the Japanese airplanes was short due to flying from the inland and the hills and mountains of the region prevented allied warships from effectively using their radars. Kamikaze sorties was commonplace toward the battlefleet who provided fire support, while non-Kamikaze planes strafed ground troops and supply lines. But the Allied troops, despite tremendous casualties, didn't give up on their offensives and waged a brutal campaign to take control over the surrounding hills.
Soviet forces slowly gaining ground in Siberia.
Back to Siberia. Operation Polar Star had raged on for 5 days. But no gains was made, by neither side. It was appereant it was all becoming a major death zone. A Japanese soldier remarked "We were laying all day in our trenches. Freezing to death, the only way to prevent that was by moving around. But then we risked getting taken out by Soviet snipers. But we always knew when they came. They called in their artillery first. It was dreadful, but we were hidden and protected under the earth. Then their bombers and fighters came. But they could only guess where we were. They couldn't see us, they always missed. And we then knew when the communists was coming. Our trenches was spread out thin, with major gaps in our sectors and defenses. But to get to us they had to expose themself and the snow was deep. So deep that a man fully prepared for war moved slowly. We could quickly mount a defense and repell the attackers". Meanwhile another Soviet soldier had a totally different take on it all "The snow was so constant and in great amounts it blocked our view and that of our enemy. Our tanks hummed and made all sorts of noises and created major silhouettes. The enemy fired upon those. We walked slowly beside our tanks having them as a false sense of protection. I remember I fired back, but my rifle had frozen completely due to the frost. A bullet then ricocheted on the tank to our left and hit a comrade in his throat. He laid there clinging to his life, I approached him, but I only took his gun. I left him there. We then took the enemy losing about five men for everyone they lost, but in the end we won".
Japan refuse to yield even an inch.
It was now a week into March and the Japanese managed to mount a counter offensive from Shikoku and Kyushu simultaneously. The attack force from Shikoku managed to drive the invaders back from a major area just south of Osaka. With the two offensives the invading forces risked to be encircled and suffering a devastating blow as the largest naval invasion force in risked being wiped out. But the Allies was just as detirmined as the Japanese and the forces from Shikoku had already greatly weakened themself in their assault to repell the invaders. Allied forces had lost a major province, but managed to stop the offensive and it became clear for the Japanese that they could only break the invaders, who had now gotten into a phase of only defensive operations, if they converged all of the forces toward the invaders. But then they risked exposing the rest of Japan.
They should be put to good use, to bomb Japan.
The Soviet Air Force ordered the Pe-10 to be field tested before being put into production and service. It was an overall improvement over the Pe-8 and promised a much greater range.
A ruined Siberian village.
The fight in Siberia culminated in half of May. Some of the snow diseappeared, but the winter was still around, accompanied with the infamous Russian mud during spring. Attrition was a major contributor for the steep Soviet casualties. Examples was tanks and trucks driving off the roads due to slippery roads, and even more tragic several tanks who crossed what was assumed to be safe areas, but instead it proved to be icelakes. The tanks went straight through, resulting in tragedies. But the Finnish troopers impressed many of the Soviet soldiers. Impressed by their will to fight and survive. Finnish snipers showed that when you laid down in the snow you could simply pour water over yourself and the area around you. The water froze and when they fired the snow would stay still instead of giving away their position. Still the Japanese suffered immensly in the harsh weather. A Japanese commander remarked "we can never win a war against a people who wait in line for ice cream in -30 degrees" as he overlooked the Soviet soldiers waiting in line for flavored ice.
The major offensive have been called off, nothing have happened but death.
Operation Polar Star was in many respects a disaster. In under one month the Red Army had lost over 50.000 men for minimal gains. Soviet high command said it was only probing of the Japanese lines, to weaken them and check out their defenses. But for the soldier on the ground, one could only wonder why they had been thrown away so needlessly for minimal gains or none at all.
US and British bombers intensifies their bombing of Tokyo.
The American Army Airforce started strategic bombing of Tokyo and surrounding areas this time. The purpose was to cripple the Japanese industry, fortifications, ports, airports - and morale. Through all of March bombs was unleashed upon the Japanese capital, but during a short period of the 28th and 29th of March between 1600 an 2000 tons was unleashed over the city. Soviet observers looked upon this sheer destruction, taking notes on the potential of the United States.
US battleships steaming toward the Emperor.
On the night of the 29th of March the biggest combined fleet as of yet in the war anchored just outside of striking distance from Tokyo. This fleet dwarfed the one of Operation Neptune and consisted of the US Third, Fifth and Seventh Fleet and the British Pacific Fleet. The US Amphibious Fleet of the Pacific Fleet followed closely behind. The Armada was massive: 32 aircraft carriers, 24 battleships, and 400 destroyers and destroyer escorts.Their destination: Tokyo.
The bombardments on Tokyo from sea begins.
Early morning of the 30th of March the naval bombardment commenced with the many carieers joining in. Just ours before the 11th and 13th Airborne Divisions landed behind enemy lines to link up the landing zones of Kujūkuri Beach and Hiratsuka. After hours of fierce battle with several Allied ships sunk and damaged the smoke on the beaches created a tombstone on the horizon. It was uncertain wether or not this would be the tombstone to the Americans or Japanese.
The first soldiers of just under 1 million who will invade Tokyo.
After hours of intense bombing, naval and aerial combat an invasion force of 22 divisions was scheduled to participate in the invasion as the Tenth Army attacked Kujūkuri Beach, on the Bōsō Peninsula and the Eight Army attacked Hiratsuka, on Sagami Bay. Meanwhile 12 other divisions was expected to arrive later as reinforcements - American troops, Spanish troops, Dutch troops and the Commonwealth Corps. In comparison Operation Neptune required 12 divisions in total. The enxt phase of Operation Downfall had started: Operation Coronet. There was no turning back for either side.
The chaos during the landing of Tokyo.
The landing was brutal. Despite the intense bombings of Japanese positions they held their positions and wrecked havoc on the beaches. However their stroke of genius were to not focus on a strong defense on the beaches. Instead these positions was quickly given up and they reinforced their positions further inline where they took advantage of natural defensive lines managing to bind the majority of forces near the beaches and on them. Even worse, for the invaders, the majority of Kamikaze planes (agian in the thousans) and planes in average focused on the incoming transports. Instead of hitting the bows of sturdy warships they instead hit the weakly protected transports. Even by the seas the incoming troopers suffered extreme losses. It was estimated that during the assault 5000 seamen alone was lost. “The beach is no longer measured by yards but by corpses…Kujūkuri is no longer a beach. By day it is an enormous cloud of burning, blinding smoke; it is a vast furnace lit by the reflection of the flames. And when night arrives, one of those scorching, howling, bleeding nights, the dogs plunge into the Sea and swim desperately togain the other bank. The nights of Kujūkuri are a terror for them. Animals flee this hell; the hardest stones cannot bear it for long; only men endure.”
Commonwealth troops engaged in the battle for Tokyo.
Despite the bloody landing Allied troops advanced into Tokyo itself. Where one had expected the Japanese defenders to have tired themselves out, one was wrong. Tokyo who had already been turned into a ruin was heavily contested. Close quarter combat that few survived took place. It was said only the dead had peace in these battles who put soldiers of both sides to the extreme. Turnover rates was high and few companies could last for several days at a time and had to often be replaced by another company before they were put back into action. All to keep them away from the brink of mental breakdown.
The dreadful results of the Battle of Tokyo.
Still on the fourth the city, or what was left of it, was taken after vicious fighting. The landing and the subsequent taking of the city took some 23.000 American casualties. Still that was only a few days into the invasion, and Operation: Coronet, of Operation Downfall, had barely started. It was estimated that the combined operations of Neptune, Coronet and the upcoming Olympic would claim hundreds of thousands of casualties, and millions when counting in the Japanese side. But even if Tokyo was taken the battle itself was not over. The Japanese still held the majority of the country and they were detirmined to retake their homeland.
If only were so easy..
Tokyo was taken. Shochwaves rippled through Asia and the world. Still it was an uncertain situation. The Americans had barely managed to get a foothold around Tokyo with exposed lines, and the counterattack on Osaka showed that Japan could still mount crippling defeats. Meanwhile a seabattle took place just south of Japan. While it reduced the Japanese Navy to only one battleship, it greatly reduced the American-British Armada that terrorized Japan.
The Battle of Japan intensifies.
The Battle of Japan was a bloody and costly affair. But it concerned the high command of the Soviet military and political leadership. Trotsky announced "They won the race to Berlin. But it was we who held Berlin, it was we who destroyed Germany. They won the race to Tokyo. But it is the Soviet soldier who will secure Tokyo. It is the Red Army who will cripple the Fascist nation of Japan. And it is the revolution who will take down the Emperor". It was then ordered to all Soviet fronts and commanders that they had to create plans to invade Japan or at least Manchuria and Korea to officially safeguard the peoples of Asia against the forces of reaction. But the Soviet commanders had their concerns. Operation Polar Star had been a failure and emberassment, one they feared would repeat itself.
Soviet tanks prepare for theconquest liberation of Asia.
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So it's on, the race to take Japan and Asia! It will intensify in the future an next update will likely not come tommorow, but this weekend.
A little bit of skiing is always good.
Winter had come. With temperatures far below zero degrees even battlehardened Russian and Siberian soldiers struggled in the extreme temperatures. Fingers froze to guns, guns malfunctioned regurally, soldiers died. But the spirits was high (at least publically) as over six hundred thousand of Soviets amassed at the border preparing to strike. Prepared to exact their revenge. While the average Soviet soldier merely fought for their homeland and to avenge their fallen comrades, the political elite of Kreml had other plans in mind. They intended to usher the world into revolution.
With Allied forces invading Japan we shall crush the Axis once and for all.
After extensive planning the three Fronts along the frontline got the order to attack. Operation: Polar Star wasn't meant to start before the harsh winter had passed away. Partly so that the commanders and staffs of the many armies could better coordinate their offensives and plan them, in part waiting for the European forces, but mostly to escape the wrath of General Winter. Moreover the Soviet leadership eyed an oppurtunity as Japan herself was under attack. Their Imperial enemy was now antipicated to be at its weakest, but they hadn't accounted for their sheer desperation. At 17:00 an 18:00 (depending on local timezones) on the 23rd as the winter darkness lowered itself over Xinjiang and Siberia the Red Army was ordered to attack. To stop at nothing. But a detirmined Japanese and Chinese defender showed the grim reality of war.
The cold winds swept across the extensive frontlines. It froze people down to their very bones meanwhile the bullets were sweeping across the fronts aswell. The situation on the front was brutal, unforgiving. The soil was frozen making it impossible to dig trenches, the snow made everyone wet (who in turn froze to ice) and gave away their positions and gave no cover. Soviet soldiers made improvised fortifications, while they were effective it showcased the sheer brutality of winter war. As their comrades fell to the enemy or hypothermia (or a mix) their entire bodies turned to frozen carcasses. In their death they coul offer their comrades cover. But the Polar Star operation had little gains and the hopes for a quick and decisive blow were all but given up upon. The winter was too severe and the defending Japanese and Chinese forces too entrenched. There was no last hurrah for the Soviet armies, only more hardship.
American forces advancing in Japan under constant battle.
Further to the east another war took place. Despite being in much more temperate climate it still embodied the horrors of war. American, British, Dutch and Canadian (and other smaller contigents) poured onto the beaches south of Osake heading toward the cultural city of Kyoto. But the Japanese fighters in the hills refused to give and fought to the very end. Raider Regiments was formed who constantly harrassed the invading armies. Allied operations intensified, but it became clear the Japanese defense did aswell. One aspect the Allied forces underestimated was the Japanese air forces. They had first estimated the Japanese to operate just a few thousand airplanes, but it soon became appereant they had several magnitues higher. The distances the Japanese airplanes was short due to flying from the inland and the hills and mountains of the region prevented allied warships from effectively using their radars. Kamikaze sorties was commonplace toward the battlefleet who provided fire support, while non-Kamikaze planes strafed ground troops and supply lines. But the Allied troops, despite tremendous casualties, didn't give up on their offensives and waged a brutal campaign to take control over the surrounding hills.
Soviet forces slowly gaining ground in Siberia.
Back to Siberia. Operation Polar Star had raged on for 5 days. But no gains was made, by neither side. It was appereant it was all becoming a major death zone. A Japanese soldier remarked "We were laying all day in our trenches. Freezing to death, the only way to prevent that was by moving around. But then we risked getting taken out by Soviet snipers. But we always knew when they came. They called in their artillery first. It was dreadful, but we were hidden and protected under the earth. Then their bombers and fighters came. But they could only guess where we were. They couldn't see us, they always missed. And we then knew when the communists was coming. Our trenches was spread out thin, with major gaps in our sectors and defenses. But to get to us they had to expose themself and the snow was deep. So deep that a man fully prepared for war moved slowly. We could quickly mount a defense and repell the attackers". Meanwhile another Soviet soldier had a totally different take on it all "The snow was so constant and in great amounts it blocked our view and that of our enemy. Our tanks hummed and made all sorts of noises and created major silhouettes. The enemy fired upon those. We walked slowly beside our tanks having them as a false sense of protection. I remember I fired back, but my rifle had frozen completely due to the frost. A bullet then ricocheted on the tank to our left and hit a comrade in his throat. He laid there clinging to his life, I approached him, but I only took his gun. I left him there. We then took the enemy losing about five men for everyone they lost, but in the end we won".
Japan refuse to yield even an inch.
It was now a week into March and the Japanese managed to mount a counter offensive from Shikoku and Kyushu simultaneously. The attack force from Shikoku managed to drive the invaders back from a major area just south of Osaka. With the two offensives the invading forces risked to be encircled and suffering a devastating blow as the largest naval invasion force in risked being wiped out. But the Allies was just as detirmined as the Japanese and the forces from Shikoku had already greatly weakened themself in their assault to repell the invaders. Allied forces had lost a major province, but managed to stop the offensive and it became clear for the Japanese that they could only break the invaders, who had now gotten into a phase of only defensive operations, if they converged all of the forces toward the invaders. But then they risked exposing the rest of Japan.
They should be put to good use, to bomb Japan.
The Soviet Air Force ordered the Pe-10 to be field tested before being put into production and service. It was an overall improvement over the Pe-8 and promised a much greater range.
A ruined Siberian village.
The fight in Siberia culminated in half of May. Some of the snow diseappeared, but the winter was still around, accompanied with the infamous Russian mud during spring. Attrition was a major contributor for the steep Soviet casualties. Examples was tanks and trucks driving off the roads due to slippery roads, and even more tragic several tanks who crossed what was assumed to be safe areas, but instead it proved to be icelakes. The tanks went straight through, resulting in tragedies. But the Finnish troopers impressed many of the Soviet soldiers. Impressed by their will to fight and survive. Finnish snipers showed that when you laid down in the snow you could simply pour water over yourself and the area around you. The water froze and when they fired the snow would stay still instead of giving away their position. Still the Japanese suffered immensly in the harsh weather. A Japanese commander remarked "we can never win a war against a people who wait in line for ice cream in -30 degrees" as he overlooked the Soviet soldiers waiting in line for flavored ice.
The major offensive have been called off, nothing have happened but death.
Operation Polar Star was in many respects a disaster. In under one month the Red Army had lost over 50.000 men for minimal gains. Soviet high command said it was only probing of the Japanese lines, to weaken them and check out their defenses. But for the soldier on the ground, one could only wonder why they had been thrown away so needlessly for minimal gains or none at all.
US and British bombers intensifies their bombing of Tokyo.
The American Army Airforce started strategic bombing of Tokyo and surrounding areas this time. The purpose was to cripple the Japanese industry, fortifications, ports, airports - and morale. Through all of March bombs was unleashed upon the Japanese capital, but during a short period of the 28th and 29th of March between 1600 an 2000 tons was unleashed over the city. Soviet observers looked upon this sheer destruction, taking notes on the potential of the United States.
US battleships steaming toward the Emperor.
On the night of the 29th of March the biggest combined fleet as of yet in the war anchored just outside of striking distance from Tokyo. This fleet dwarfed the one of Operation Neptune and consisted of the US Third, Fifth and Seventh Fleet and the British Pacific Fleet. The US Amphibious Fleet of the Pacific Fleet followed closely behind. The Armada was massive: 32 aircraft carriers, 24 battleships, and 400 destroyers and destroyer escorts.Their destination: Tokyo.
The bombardments on Tokyo from sea begins.
Early morning of the 30th of March the naval bombardment commenced with the many carieers joining in. Just ours before the 11th and 13th Airborne Divisions landed behind enemy lines to link up the landing zones of Kujūkuri Beach and Hiratsuka. After hours of fierce battle with several Allied ships sunk and damaged the smoke on the beaches created a tombstone on the horizon. It was uncertain wether or not this would be the tombstone to the Americans or Japanese.
The first soldiers of just under 1 million who will invade Tokyo.
After hours of intense bombing, naval and aerial combat an invasion force of 22 divisions was scheduled to participate in the invasion as the Tenth Army attacked Kujūkuri Beach, on the Bōsō Peninsula and the Eight Army attacked Hiratsuka, on Sagami Bay. Meanwhile 12 other divisions was expected to arrive later as reinforcements - American troops, Spanish troops, Dutch troops and the Commonwealth Corps. In comparison Operation Neptune required 12 divisions in total. The enxt phase of Operation Downfall had started: Operation Coronet. There was no turning back for either side.
The chaos during the landing of Tokyo.
The landing was brutal. Despite the intense bombings of Japanese positions they held their positions and wrecked havoc on the beaches. However their stroke of genius were to not focus on a strong defense on the beaches. Instead these positions was quickly given up and they reinforced their positions further inline where they took advantage of natural defensive lines managing to bind the majority of forces near the beaches and on them. Even worse, for the invaders, the majority of Kamikaze planes (agian in the thousans) and planes in average focused on the incoming transports. Instead of hitting the bows of sturdy warships they instead hit the weakly protected transports. Even by the seas the incoming troopers suffered extreme losses. It was estimated that during the assault 5000 seamen alone was lost. “The beach is no longer measured by yards but by corpses…Kujūkuri is no longer a beach. By day it is an enormous cloud of burning, blinding smoke; it is a vast furnace lit by the reflection of the flames. And when night arrives, one of those scorching, howling, bleeding nights, the dogs plunge into the Sea and swim desperately togain the other bank. The nights of Kujūkuri are a terror for them. Animals flee this hell; the hardest stones cannot bear it for long; only men endure.”
Commonwealth troops engaged in the battle for Tokyo.
Despite the bloody landing Allied troops advanced into Tokyo itself. Where one had expected the Japanese defenders to have tired themselves out, one was wrong. Tokyo who had already been turned into a ruin was heavily contested. Close quarter combat that few survived took place. It was said only the dead had peace in these battles who put soldiers of both sides to the extreme. Turnover rates was high and few companies could last for several days at a time and had to often be replaced by another company before they were put back into action. All to keep them away from the brink of mental breakdown.
The dreadful results of the Battle of Tokyo.
Still on the fourth the city, or what was left of it, was taken after vicious fighting. The landing and the subsequent taking of the city took some 23.000 American casualties. Still that was only a few days into the invasion, and Operation: Coronet, of Operation Downfall, had barely started. It was estimated that the combined operations of Neptune, Coronet and the upcoming Olympic would claim hundreds of thousands of casualties, and millions when counting in the Japanese side. But even if Tokyo was taken the battle itself was not over. The Japanese still held the majority of the country and they were detirmined to retake their homeland.
If only were so easy..
Tokyo was taken. Shochwaves rippled through Asia and the world. Still it was an uncertain situation. The Americans had barely managed to get a foothold around Tokyo with exposed lines, and the counterattack on Osaka showed that Japan could still mount crippling defeats. Meanwhile a seabattle took place just south of Japan. While it reduced the Japanese Navy to only one battleship, it greatly reduced the American-British Armada that terrorized Japan.
The Battle of Japan intensifies.
The Battle of Japan was a bloody and costly affair. But it concerned the high command of the Soviet military and political leadership. Trotsky announced "They won the race to Berlin. But it was we who held Berlin, it was we who destroyed Germany. They won the race to Tokyo. But it is the Soviet soldier who will secure Tokyo. It is the Red Army who will cripple the Fascist nation of Japan. And it is the revolution who will take down the Emperor". It was then ordered to all Soviet fronts and commanders that they had to create plans to invade Japan or at least Manchuria and Korea to officially safeguard the peoples of Asia against the forces of reaction. But the Soviet commanders had their concerns. Operation Polar Star had been a failure and emberassment, one they feared would repeat itself.
Soviet tanks prepare for the
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So it's on, the race to take Japan and Asia! It will intensify in the future an next update will likely not come tommorow, but this weekend.
The Empire of the Sun starts to pulsate in its death - but even in death suns can be fearsome things.
I don't blame the Soviet soldiers for their doubts.
I don't blame the Soviet soldiers for their doubts.
A sun implosion is nasty bussiness. Hopefully it won't claim millions of lives as the invasion of Germany.
And soon it will be more USSR focused than US again. I just think a hypothetical invasion of Japan is interesting, and the Allied AI are quite capable in their invasion routes.
Chapter 25.
Chapter 25: Island Hopping.
The island hopping continues.
American High Command had leaked invasion plans of Saipan and Okinawa willingly to the Japanese Army. Their strategy was to create a feint and shift focus from the Home Islands to Saipan and Okinawa. Alltough in a reduced state American forces (the V. Amphibious Corps, namely 2nd and 4th Marine Divisions and the 27th Infantry Division) invaded the island of Saipan on the 11th of March 1943. Saipan was a priority target as it would cut communciations from Indochina and southern China and prevent these lands to reinforce their Home Islands. Moreover the Island would be utilized as a bomber base on China and Japan and as a method to reinforce the US forces in Japan. The battle lasted for a little over two weeks, and despite the Japanese only having a garrison force of an understrength division with a few regiments to support them the battle became one of the bloodiest in the Pacific Theater (if Japan proper is not accounted for). The Japanese suffered 30.000 casualties where 5.000 were suicides. Under 1.000 were taken prisoner. Meanwhile US forces suffered just short of 14.000 casualties. But all the blood and sweat paid off. Japan was now directly threatened from the south and the bombing campaign of Japan and China could be stepped up.
Hopefully coastal China will be returned to sexy Mao.
In conjunction with this a small group of American forces on the coast of eastern China with a large contigent of battlehardened Dutch colonial forces. Despite the majority of Japanese forces having fled to Korea or Japan some were left behind on the Chinese coast and these troops were soon cut off by the victoious Allied invasion force. They landed on the port city of Ningbo and from there they directly threatened the port cities of Hangzhou and Shanghai. If these ports was taken the majority of the Axis forces in China would be cut off from supplies and reinforcement - and extraction. Furthermore it put up direct routes into Korea and Japan and delivered a means to control the seas around Japan. If the Chinese coast fell to the Allies along with the islands surrounding Japan, it would spell certain doom for the ancient Empire.
Anything can happen right?
And then the final sub-operation of Operation Downfall was given the greenlight; Operation Olympic. It had initially been planned to attack the southernmost island of Kyūshū, however the Japanese had built up a significant force there. Instead the allies invaded the shores of Hiroshima. The previous armada that had consisted of 42 aircraft carriers, 24 battleships, and 400 destroyers and destroyer escorts was now reduced to only 25 carieers, 22 battleships and 100 destroyers. The invasions of Japan and the subsequent seabattles had wiped out the once proud Japanese Navy, however at the cost of major losses in the US and Royal Navies. By the end of the war the combined US and British navies "only" had 20 carieers, 20 battleships and 89 destroyers. Hiroshima was invaded by the US Sixth Army and several ANZAC Brigades with a total force of 815,548 soldiers. Just like the other landingzones in Japan the landing on the beaches south-east of Hiroshima was terrifying, but large contingents of Japanese forces had retreated to the surrounding areas and the air battle for Japan had been won decisively by the Allies. With a total force of around 2 million on mainland Japan with 13-15 additional divisions standing ready as reinforcements and reserves the eventual fall of Japan seemed inevitable. The question was now how many of lives Japan would drag own with them in their Downfall.
We'll resume the conquest of China. Sorry, I meant liberation.
As winter came to an end and Japan suffering crippling blows to their morale Soviet High Command decided that it was time to push two of their fronts on the offensive. Having a better time to reinforce their losses and several Japanese divisions being diverted to the east these offensives proved to have better intial success. Soviet High Command hoped to bind up a significant number of Japanese and Chinese personell in Mongolia and Sinkiang. It was hoped that would clear the path for the forces who still prepared in Europe to make a gigantic liberation of Vladivostok followed by an invasion of Manchuria and Hokkaido - the northernmost major island of Japan. But that relied upon a relative small Japanese defense force in the far east making them believe it was through the steppes of the ancient lands of the Mongol Empire the main invasion would concentrate on.
They will be better off indeed!
On the 15th of April the negotiations and preperations had concluded. Tannu Tuva was made an autonomous oblast of the Soviet Republic of Russia. Meanwhile the fighting raged on and as in Operation Polar Star the fighting was reduced to a stalemate. Nevertheless the Soviet Union had once again grabbed lands, but this time no one really blinked an eye as Tannu Tuva had before the Russian Revolution been a part of Russia anyway.
The next vacation island on the list for the US forces.
US forces continued on their offensives in the Pacific. This time the Japanese island of Okinawa was the target. Alltough it did not contain the 22 division the Japanese had been fooled to believe it would, it had a sizable invasion force consisting of the XXIV. Corps and III. Amphibious Corps having a total force of four Infantry Divisions and three Marine Divisions. Again Okinawa was invaded in order to gain an airbase to bomb Japan and to control the surrounding seas. But as in the other islands the Americans faced fierce resistance from soldiers and civillians alike. Okinawa would be the last island to fall under the extensive Allied island hopping campaigns. The 82 days long battle of Okinawa would rage on until the 7th of July, claiming over 70.000 American casualties and around 100.000 Japanese casualties. Despite it's bloody results it secured American control of the seas and air and threatened southern Japan and the entire coast of China.
The front is remarkably tighter now in southern China.
Meanwhile the feint invasion of southern China, "Red Fury", was a major success. Despite eventually losing conquered territories being forces to retreat back to the initial starting position of China the main goal was achieved: to divert Japanese forces to southern China and away from the actual fronts. With US control of the islands this also meant these troops wouldn't be able to retreat back to the Home Islands being stuck in southern China. Still the Far Eastern Front prepared for a spearhead operation called "Operation Red Banner" into the capital of Guilin supported by Greek troops (the British troops being diverted to Japan).
So goes another Empire. Only one Empire remains (besides from the "Free Yunnan Empire").
On the 26th of April the Siamese "Empire" succumbed to the sheer pressure of American, Spanish, Belgian and Commonwealth troops. The Burma road into China was secured, now the focused shifted to finally secure Indochina and open up another front in China. Thousands had perished in the vicious jungle fights of Burma, India and Siam, but Japan had faile to secure Signapore and as such stop the allied rubber supply and naval routes into Japan.
1st of May is celebrated with a successfull Operation Downfall. The Red Army gotta hurry up now!
The date was the 1st of May and in a matter of weeks the Japanese defenses had collapsed under the combined might of the Allied invasion force. Soviet forces looked with mixed feelings on the reports. Spanish intelligence provided that around Tokyo alone the Americans had 20 divisions. It was mixed as the positive was obvious: Japan would fall and the war would come to an end. However most of Japan was now under American and British occupation and the Soviets was concerned that the Allies would "steal" their victory away from them. The Soviet political elite gave clear instructions to their military planners: "You will conjure up plans to invade and take Japan during this summer and execute them. Or you will be given new careers in Siberia". The Soviet Union was anxious to get into the war, and they were ready to deliver the full might of the Red Army upon their unsuspecting Japanese victims.
-----
Okay so this should be the last Allies-centric update. Now the Red Army will come to Asia and liberate the proletariat from fascism
The island hopping continues.
American High Command had leaked invasion plans of Saipan and Okinawa willingly to the Japanese Army. Their strategy was to create a feint and shift focus from the Home Islands to Saipan and Okinawa. Alltough in a reduced state American forces (the V. Amphibious Corps, namely 2nd and 4th Marine Divisions and the 27th Infantry Division) invaded the island of Saipan on the 11th of March 1943. Saipan was a priority target as it would cut communciations from Indochina and southern China and prevent these lands to reinforce their Home Islands. Moreover the Island would be utilized as a bomber base on China and Japan and as a method to reinforce the US forces in Japan. The battle lasted for a little over two weeks, and despite the Japanese only having a garrison force of an understrength division with a few regiments to support them the battle became one of the bloodiest in the Pacific Theater (if Japan proper is not accounted for). The Japanese suffered 30.000 casualties where 5.000 were suicides. Under 1.000 were taken prisoner. Meanwhile US forces suffered just short of 14.000 casualties. But all the blood and sweat paid off. Japan was now directly threatened from the south and the bombing campaign of Japan and China could be stepped up.
Hopefully coastal China will be returned to sexy Mao.
In conjunction with this a small group of American forces on the coast of eastern China with a large contigent of battlehardened Dutch colonial forces. Despite the majority of Japanese forces having fled to Korea or Japan some were left behind on the Chinese coast and these troops were soon cut off by the victoious Allied invasion force. They landed on the port city of Ningbo and from there they directly threatened the port cities of Hangzhou and Shanghai. If these ports was taken the majority of the Axis forces in China would be cut off from supplies and reinforcement - and extraction. Furthermore it put up direct routes into Korea and Japan and delivered a means to control the seas around Japan. If the Chinese coast fell to the Allies along with the islands surrounding Japan, it would spell certain doom for the ancient Empire.
Anything can happen right?
And then the final sub-operation of Operation Downfall was given the greenlight; Operation Olympic. It had initially been planned to attack the southernmost island of Kyūshū, however the Japanese had built up a significant force there. Instead the allies invaded the shores of Hiroshima. The previous armada that had consisted of 42 aircraft carriers, 24 battleships, and 400 destroyers and destroyer escorts was now reduced to only 25 carieers, 22 battleships and 100 destroyers. The invasions of Japan and the subsequent seabattles had wiped out the once proud Japanese Navy, however at the cost of major losses in the US and Royal Navies. By the end of the war the combined US and British navies "only" had 20 carieers, 20 battleships and 89 destroyers. Hiroshima was invaded by the US Sixth Army and several ANZAC Brigades with a total force of 815,548 soldiers. Just like the other landingzones in Japan the landing on the beaches south-east of Hiroshima was terrifying, but large contingents of Japanese forces had retreated to the surrounding areas and the air battle for Japan had been won decisively by the Allies. With a total force of around 2 million on mainland Japan with 13-15 additional divisions standing ready as reinforcements and reserves the eventual fall of Japan seemed inevitable. The question was now how many of lives Japan would drag own with them in their Downfall.
We'll resume the conquest of China. Sorry, I meant liberation.
As winter came to an end and Japan suffering crippling blows to their morale Soviet High Command decided that it was time to push two of their fronts on the offensive. Having a better time to reinforce their losses and several Japanese divisions being diverted to the east these offensives proved to have better intial success. Soviet High Command hoped to bind up a significant number of Japanese and Chinese personell in Mongolia and Sinkiang. It was hoped that would clear the path for the forces who still prepared in Europe to make a gigantic liberation of Vladivostok followed by an invasion of Manchuria and Hokkaido - the northernmost major island of Japan. But that relied upon a relative small Japanese defense force in the far east making them believe it was through the steppes of the ancient lands of the Mongol Empire the main invasion would concentrate on.
They will be better off indeed!
On the 15th of April the negotiations and preperations had concluded. Tannu Tuva was made an autonomous oblast of the Soviet Republic of Russia. Meanwhile the fighting raged on and as in Operation Polar Star the fighting was reduced to a stalemate. Nevertheless the Soviet Union had once again grabbed lands, but this time no one really blinked an eye as Tannu Tuva had before the Russian Revolution been a part of Russia anyway.
The next vacation island on the list for the US forces.
US forces continued on their offensives in the Pacific. This time the Japanese island of Okinawa was the target. Alltough it did not contain the 22 division the Japanese had been fooled to believe it would, it had a sizable invasion force consisting of the XXIV. Corps and III. Amphibious Corps having a total force of four Infantry Divisions and three Marine Divisions. Again Okinawa was invaded in order to gain an airbase to bomb Japan and to control the surrounding seas. But as in the other islands the Americans faced fierce resistance from soldiers and civillians alike. Okinawa would be the last island to fall under the extensive Allied island hopping campaigns. The 82 days long battle of Okinawa would rage on until the 7th of July, claiming over 70.000 American casualties and around 100.000 Japanese casualties. Despite it's bloody results it secured American control of the seas and air and threatened southern Japan and the entire coast of China.
The front is remarkably tighter now in southern China.
Meanwhile the feint invasion of southern China, "Red Fury", was a major success. Despite eventually losing conquered territories being forces to retreat back to the initial starting position of China the main goal was achieved: to divert Japanese forces to southern China and away from the actual fronts. With US control of the islands this also meant these troops wouldn't be able to retreat back to the Home Islands being stuck in southern China. Still the Far Eastern Front prepared for a spearhead operation called "Operation Red Banner" into the capital of Guilin supported by Greek troops (the British troops being diverted to Japan).
So goes another Empire. Only one Empire remains (besides from the "Free Yunnan Empire").
On the 26th of April the Siamese "Empire" succumbed to the sheer pressure of American, Spanish, Belgian and Commonwealth troops. The Burma road into China was secured, now the focused shifted to finally secure Indochina and open up another front in China. Thousands had perished in the vicious jungle fights of Burma, India and Siam, but Japan had faile to secure Signapore and as such stop the allied rubber supply and naval routes into Japan.
1st of May is celebrated with a successfull Operation Downfall. The Red Army gotta hurry up now!
The date was the 1st of May and in a matter of weeks the Japanese defenses had collapsed under the combined might of the Allied invasion force. Soviet forces looked with mixed feelings on the reports. Spanish intelligence provided that around Tokyo alone the Americans had 20 divisions. It was mixed as the positive was obvious: Japan would fall and the war would come to an end. However most of Japan was now under American and British occupation and the Soviets was concerned that the Allies would "steal" their victory away from them. The Soviet political elite gave clear instructions to their military planners: "You will conjure up plans to invade and take Japan during this summer and execute them. Or you will be given new careers in Siberia". The Soviet Union was anxious to get into the war, and they were ready to deliver the full might of the Red Army upon their unsuspecting Japanese victims.
-----
Okay so this should be the last Allies-centric update. Now the Red Army will come to Asia and liberate the proletariat from fascism
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I'll be honest, I have no idea how the Russians will sweep in at the last second and take the last bits of Japan beforethe allies do, having no troops on the island or a big army and navy ready to ship across to it. Did the AI sit there for a bit and wait for you?
I would find it somewhat amusing if Russia managed to secure all of china for itself either in the union or as a 'vassal' and yet be disappointed because it didn't get Japan instead!
I would find it somewhat amusing if Russia managed to secure all of china for itself either in the union or as a 'vassal' and yet be disappointed because it didn't get Japan instead!
There's a difference between the Kreml demanding the military to do something and if the military actually manages to pull it off
Keep on tuned and your questions will be answered..
Poor Japan. With their Home Islands falling Manchuria and China should - one hopes - be easy pickings.
Hope only get you so far
And btw I'll try to squeeze in two updates this week, however there will be none this weekend. I also hope I'll finish the gameplay before Waking the Tiger.
Interesting read. A bit depressing that Trotskyism doesn't entail any more domocracy or welfare for the workers than stalinism did, though.
Thanks!
After the civil war there was some liberalisation of society (not the economy) with better rights for the people and a little bit of democratisation. But then the war came crashing in and the processes have been stalled. But if they were delayed because of the war or it was a convenient excuse remains to be seen! 
Trotsky, it should be noted, shared many of Stalin's policies. He believed in forced collectivization, he believed in cracking down on worker's rights, etc. Stalin initially adopted a Market acapitalist approach in opposition to this, but then switched to Trotsky's position after the man himself was sidelined to take down Bukharin. Trotsky might have been marginally better than Stalin by not putting a pedophile in charge of the secret police, but not by much.
Yes those are valid points. I adressed them in some of the intros and I made the AAR as I became fascinated why Trotsky have become some sort of good bolshevik. But in the end what happens here is up to me as HoI4 simulate mostly wars and revolutions/coups and I try to not be too biased in either direction, so we'll see what happens.
I'm likely to keep it open ended.